A view from the top of Cape Town’s Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. Notice what’s missing…a tower. It’s 1.2 km of straight cables, from top to bottom. Technically, it’s one of three aerial cableways of its kind in the world. (The Palm Springs Aerial Tram is another, though with a 3.9 km cable it’s way longer…size matters in Palm Springs.) Fortunately, they didn’t go for the original plan of a funicular railway, which would have gouged the side of the mountain. It opened just in time for a global depression in October 1929.
Check the weather before you go, because gale force winds (either from the northwest, or the famous “Cape Doctor” from the southeast) show up regularly and shut the party down. The local Super 14 rugby team is called the Cape Stormers for a reason.
