Hiking Table Mountain – India Venster Trail

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Travel Spirit

I briefly talked about hiking Table Mountain in Cape Town, Africa a few weeks ago in my post about my Couchsurfing experience in Cape Town, but I wanted to give you some additional information!

I had researched a few companies and hikes on Trip Advisor and was interested in the India Venster trail. I had decided to wait until I arrived in Cape Town to make any arrangements, mainly because of weather. I’m glad I did, because the people I couchsurfed with were able to get their neighbor, Keith, to hike the India Venster trail with me.

India Venster Trail–Table Mountain, Cape Town

It basically traverses up the front of Table Mountain, under the cable car. We came across the National flower for South Africa on the trail…the beautiful Protea…

Here’s a closer view…

Being a local, he was very familiar with this trail. I had read that it isn’t marked as well as some of the others and is a little more challenging because of some rock scrambling. In America it would be considered a Class 3 level for rock climbing. I was a bit nervous, but wanted a challenge. There was only one spot on the trail where I was finding spots for my fingers within the rocks and was perched precariously…wondering what I had gotten myself in to!

The Platteklip Gorge is an easier route for those that don’t want a little thrill!

I had arrived to Cape Town from Ohio, North America the day before, but slept well, so I felt up to it. Luckily, the day was mostly sunny and we had spectacular views!

The view coming down in the cable car….Spectacular!!

Taking Cable Car down from top of Table Mountain

There have been a number of deaths on this trail, with various contributing factors such as…inferior physical fitness level, traversing down is more difficult than going up, rapid weather changes, and others.

I thoroughly enjoyed my hike on Table Mountain! It was even better than I expected!!

Couchsurfing Cape Town (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
Platteklip Gorge ~ Caught in the dark, barefoot! (runningthecape.wordpress.com)
Red Bus City Tour of Cape Town (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)

Gariep River, S. Africa

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Travel Spirit

After driving 9 hours on Day one of my G Adventures Africa Overland Truck journey, we set up camp at Gariep R iv er (Orange River) on the border of S. Africa and Namibia. It was already dark, so the next morning it was a treat to wake up to this view!

I would’ve shown you the campsite…but the wifi at Lake Malawi was very slow, so I can’t! Maybe later!

This is the bar that we didn’t use since we only had a few hours that morning before we packed up our tents and drove on to cross the boarder into Namibia, towards our destination of Fish River Canyon.

Stellenbosch & Franschhoek Wine Tour in Cape Town

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Travel Spirit

My last day in Cape Town was spent taking a wine tour of three wineries located in the Stellenbosch & Franschhoek regions. It was the only rainy day of my four days in Cape Town so I couldn’t complain! I don’t remember the name of the first winery….but isn’t it beautiful?

There was a small group of about 11 of us on the tour. We tried a variety of wines to include Pinotage, which is a red wine blend of Pinot Noir and Hermitage. Chardonnay is my wine of choice, but I really enjoyed the Pinotage. The South African Rand (their money) is around 7 Rand to $1 U.S. Wine was quite affordable…usually around $5-$8 a bottle for a nice wine.