When I was at varsity here at UCT many moons ago there was grafitti on the bridge going towards the Baxter which read “Table Mountain gets laid” and underneath it “Table Mountain is a lesbian”. I loved them both even though I never knew why only lesbians got laid. Thus began my collection of bizarre bits and pieces of info on Table Mountain. These days I’ve been working on a project too complicated to begin to expand on, but we’ve been doing research and finding out amazing and weird stuff about Table Mountain.
Like, during WW2 there was a waiter at the restaurant on top of the mountain who, because of his nazi sympathies, became a spy for the Germans and he would Morse-code his contacts, letting them know what ships were entering the harbour.
And apparently, everybody should know that the Dassie is the closest living relative of the elephant.
The wind on top of the mountain can reach speeds of over 300km/h. And it’s measured with a thing called an anamometer. Most of the fynbos bushes on the top of the mountain are small almost bonzai versions because of the hectic wind up there.
During Apartheid, BJ Vorster’s government rolled out the ‘separate amenities’ policy and tried to enforce separate cable cars up the mountain and the Table Mountain Cable Way Company refused.
That’s just some of the TMT (Table Mountain Trivia) I’ve picked up and been tickled by.
Jason
Another bit of TMT – its illegal to fly a plane over this beaut. Why? I dont know.
megan
It’s because of all the aerials popped all over the Mountain. TV, radio, spy, microwave. Who knows what’s up there?