Schofe abseils down Table Mountain
Last week you saw me diving with Great White sharks. Seeing those incredible creatures in their environment was such a privilege, and I consider that item on my bucket list crossed off in style.
The next stage of my journey was heading into the Mother City, Cape Town, with my wife Steph to pickup some gifts for our daughters Ruby and Molly, and of course Holly.
Part 1: Schofe goes diving with sharks and Behind the scenes of Schofe's shark diving adventure
Part 2: Schofe abseils down Table Mountain
Part 3: Schofe meets the real-life Crocodile Dundee
Part 4: Spot the two-tonne rhino, Schofe!
Our first stop was Greenmarket Square in the very heart of the city, which has a wonderful craft market.
What we discovered during our wander round the market is that Steph and I are terrible hagglers. I console myself with the thought that at least we were supporting crafts people all over Africa; so paying a bit too much was a small price to pay for a lovely afternoon wandering the market in the glorious sun.
We also tried our hand at Djembe drumming under the watchful eye of drummer extraordinaire S. Manan Ajimah. I think ‘enthusiastic’ best sums up our drumming skills, however, our drumming session did provide the inspiration for the perfect gift for Holly.
Next stop was Table Mountain which dominates the skyline of Cape Town. Very fit tourists can climb up the mountain, but I joined the 25 million tourists who have taken the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway to the top. One rather neat feature is that the ‘car’ rotates as it ascends giving an amazing 360 degree view.
Once at the top, the views are quite simply – breathtaking – and even that word doesn’t really do them justice. My only regret is that I didn’t have more time on top of the mountain, but what goes up, must come down, in my case by abseiling.
I’ve abseiled before, off the side of the twenty two floor ITV building, and whilst I’m not particularly bothered by heights, to give you some perspective, the ‘edge’ which I stepped off is 1000 metres above sea level. Whereas the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 828 metres.
If you do make it to Table Mountain and have a head for heights the view, thrill, and sense of achievement from completing the abseil are amazing. It was yet another incredible experience, and I still have the safari of a lifetime coming up next week.
All the bestPhillip
With thanks to
S. Manan. Ajimah, Djembe Drummer extraordinaire for his patient teaching and warm welcome
Chizzy, Leonore and all the team at Abseil Africa
The team at Table Mountain Aerial Cableway