Hiking day! Or so we thought it would be between Table Mountain and Lion’s Head. We had a later start to the morning and again grabbed breakfast at our new favorite coffee shop before heading to the grocery store to grab a couple of snacks/water for the day. It was a fairly quick drive from our place to the parking lot of Table Mountain. Here in South Africa, they have guys that walk along the parking lot (or side of road) and help you park for a small tip to help watch your car from any break-ins. We think they are not hired by the city and rather show up, put a vest on, and ask for “donations” but it seems to help out everyone involved for them to earn some money and tourists to have someone watching over their cars. As we arrived closer to noontime, the sun was already heating up the trail and we decided against the hike. (I also took a look at how steep parts of it were and knew I may have a panic attack climbing it… read our Patagonia adventure for detail there). So the decision was made to take the tram up to the top. When we reached the parking lot and ticket area, we realized there were two different lines. One line was just to get to the ticket area to purchase while the other was the tram to head up to Table Mountain. Tim headed to the back of the tram line to hold our place while Grant and I figured out the best strategy. We found a ticket booth for paying for the “Fast Track” pass and decided it was worth the money as we didn’t know how long the wait in the tram line could take, but it seemed one to two hours would not be crazy. We purchased the tickets and within 30 minutes were on the tram up to Table Mountain. 

The view of Cape Town from the top was spectacular and no pictures can really do it justice. We could see Lion’s Head, Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point, and several different areas of Cape Town. We took several different side trails and explored more parts of Table Mountain than we thought we could. We were shocked at how much hiking there actually was up there and honestly thought it was just going to be a short hike across a couple boardwalks before heading down. Needless to say, we spent more time up there than we thought and decided against hiking Lion’s Head in the heat of the day. We grabbed a cold beverage and enjoyed a small snack along with being visited by several birds before heading back down the tram to the parking lot. 

We decided to grab a quick bite at the local burger joint near the apartment where we ended up watching one of the T20 World Cup cricket matches. None of us had ever seen cricket before and could not really grasp through the TV how the game was played. With all that being said, we decided since we were in town, what better way to end our trip with a World Cup semi-final cricket match especially since the hosting country was going to be playing. We grabbed our tickets back at the apartment (they were only $7/each!) and prepared for our next day in the wine country of South Africa.