Small Shelly Fauna

I'M A NINJA

Standing triumphant atop Maclear's Beacon, the highest point on Table Mountain, thanks to my Milton Berle-like ninjutsu.

In an effort to see marginally more of South Africa, a land purported to be of many natural splendours, than I have in the previous five years, today I went to the massive sandstone edifice that towers over Cape Town: Table Mountain. This proved to be more difficult than the travel guides would have you believe. Not that I'd know, because I'm rockin' this trip guidebook-free, just flyin' by the seat of my pants, baby! But while driving around yesterday (to be discussed in the future), I passed by the entryway into Table Mountain National Park, and it didn't seem that far from the hotel. When I actually got around to walking up there, though, I quickly noticed three things: one, it was much further than I had previously thought (several miles); two, it was very hot (like 95 degrees) and very humid; and three, the road leading there was extremely steep. I probably should have known better than to attempt this excursion at 3 PM, right when the sun was baking down most acutely, and sure enough, only a few blocks into the walk I was dripping with sweat and utterly exhausted. I'm in terrible shape right now, the effect of a constant work schedule, the sedentary habits that come with wintertime, and a nearly 85% pizza-based diet. Hella tubby, yo. So I knew it was going to be very rough even to get to the base station at the foot of the mountain. But I was not about to let a little thing like heat exhaustion thwart my ill-conceived, last-minute efforts to see the top of a mountain. Whenever it seemed like I couldn't go on, I just had to remind myself: "I'm a ninja." And bam! Break on through...

I was the only ambulatory creature headed up the road, presumably because no one else was dumb enough to actually walk around at that time of day, and several times saw taxis and buses pass me by. It turns out this is the usual way to get to the park. I'd be damned before I shelled out any hard-earned cash for this leg of the venture, however, considering that I was already expecting admission fees. And though it took a long time, with a couple stops to pick up much-needed refreshments, I finally made it to the park's base station, a shuddering, slippery liquid shambles of a man. Right then and there I swore that I'd be taking the taxi back. Even having reached the cable car, though, there was trial ahead. I hadn't really considered it on the way up, but presented with a sharp upward view of the cable line, I began to realize that this might not be the best thing for my fear of heights. But I certainly wasn't going to back down now, not after all that. So I got on board, and the car ride was actually really cool, on account of the floor rotating 360 degrees as you go up to provide a panoramic view of the Cape Peninsula. Only right at the end, with the car slowing down to slowly creep into the dock, and the maximal distance down visible, did the heebie-jeebies set in a little.

Once on top of the mountain itself, everything was spectacular. Just amazing sheer rock faces, views of all of Cape Town from above, Robben Island, the Twelve Apostles, and both Atlantic and Indian Oceans visible, the works. The unique fynbos vegetation that makes the Cape Floristic Province so well-known was everywhere in abundance, although sadly, the proteas (South Africa's national flower) were not in bloom at this time of year. The top of the mountain is entirely covered in mats of weeds, reeds, and lichens, and in and amongst the boulders various little critters were scuttling about. Unfortunately, I didn't see any dassies (a.k.a. rock hyraxes) which are supposedly the most common mammals on the mountain, but I did see a lot of other wildlife, including agamas and girdled lizards and numerous birds, including some high-soaring raptors. There was also a great diversity of insects, including dragonflies, robber flies, and butterflies like the one shown below.

This is my butterfly. It needs my protection, I am its samurai.

I started out on the long "Klipspringer Walk", but eventually just kind of wandered off and started following a set of yellow footprints marking a trail in the rocky, less manicured part of the park away from the cable car station. Some other people were visible further along the way, so I was pretty sure it wasn't just going to plunge into a chasm (this supposition did later prove questionable, however.) Turned out, after an hour of hiking, that it led to Maclear's Beacon, the highest point on the mountain and site of some truly incredible vistas. Some other folks were there, arguing over whether you just had to go back the way you came or if there was another route. Turned out there was, and not wanting to retrace my steps I started going down it, but it turned out there was a reason the other route was the "recommended" one. Signs for "DANGER! Do not use trail if it is windy, raining, or misty" started popping up with regularity, and the reasons why became clear when the trail turned into walking along a straight-up cliff ledge, with nothing but hundreds of feet of bare rock below you and the ground. Pretty awesome, though it did make me more aware of the fact that the wind was picking up. Towards the end I actually had to squeeze between some giant boulders to get forward, and this is where I saw most of the local lizard fauna. By the time I got back the sun was sinking in the sky, and with the wind coming in a little heavier I thought it would be best to take the cable car down while there was relatively calm air. Down at the bottom, everything was already in shadow from the sun passing behind the mountain, and it was actually nice and cool, so I ended up walking back to the hotel after all.