CAPE TOWN: Enjoy an African adventure

Jan 26 2008 by Alison Stokes, Liverpool Daily Post

Alison Stokes is amazed by all that South Africa has to offer

"IT'S a great place to live and bring up a family," our guide Jamie insists. From where we're standing - on the summit of Table Mountain - looking down on the waves crashing onto False Bay to our right and the wild Atlantic coastline to our left, it's hard to argue with this one-man tourism champion for Cape Town.

We've spent the last two hours hiking up the face of Table Mountain, the 1,000m-plus mountain whose profile dominates South Africa's most cosmopolitan city.

For visitors to Cape Town and residents too, a trip up Table Mountain is a must.

And there are a variety of ways to get to the top, the easiest being the rotating cable car or one of the many footpaths that gradually winds their ways around the mountain wilderness.

Unfortunately for me, Jamie's heard I'm from Wales, and therefore used to hiking in the Brecon Beacons, so it's a hard slog up the Platteklip Gorge for us.

Despite its steepness, the route is popular with all ages, from groups of truculent teenagers on overnight trips to the hardy and weathered septuagenarians, stopping regularly to catch their breath.

At the top, it's like a circus. There are hundreds of tourists, most who've opted for the three-minute cable car ride, to the top and are impressed by anyone with the stamina to walk it.

We even stop to chat to an Irish bride, who's watching as her new husband abseils down one of the mountain faces.

Jamie's love for his home city is infectious.

After all there are few cities which can offer the great outdoors and the cosmopolitan buzz of a vibrant city within a few square miles.

And with South Africa gearing up to host the football World Cup in 2010, the city is undergoing some major development including the construction of a new soccer stadium at Green Point.

Apart from Table Mountain, with its 1,400 species of flowers, baboons, dassies (large rodents) and countless birds, some of the world's best surfing beaches are within a stone's throw of the city.

Just days before our visit in September, 349 surfers rode the waves at Muizenberg in an attempt to beat the world record for the most surfers to ride a wave at the same time.

The following morning, with my legs still aching from the Table Mountain walking tour, I decided to spend time discovering the city with a hop-on, hop-off city bus tour.

The open-top bus picks up at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, the newly-developed and pretty touristy harbourside shopping and dining attraction, on its route around the city.

The tour gives you the chance to stop off and visit various museums and galleries.

But if you have time for only one, make it the District Six museum.

Housed in the Methodist Church, the museum is a reminder of South Africa's former apartheid system.