Why This Mountain Matters to Us
Capetonians are monotonously famous for pointing to the mountain that looms over us and declaring some apparent innanity about it;
We use it to navigate... Fair enough... it is visible from everywhere, and, at a glance, its fast-changing profile as you drive provides those in-the-know to accurately place themselves within the city relative to it.
We 'used to' use the mountain to mitigate bad service ('used to' because, since we became the hottest thing in tourism, service is now great) - "So the waitress was a bit slow... hey... but we have that mountain."
We even justify our relativly slow pace and lower pay compared to Johannesburg - "We have the mountain - you can't have it all, you know?!"
But one can't live at the foot of a monolith that divides two oceans, and not have it dominate one's life. The mountain casts a sun and wind shaddow all around its fringe - both important factors for a fanatically sporting and outdoor population.
Those living on its eastern flank are the captains of industry; with a clear view of sunrise over vineyards, they're up early and already at the grindstone of the economy before the western-seaboard townsfolk have broken from a later slumber and stumbled off to a beachside cafe to top up on caffein.
But the behaviour rolls reverse come evening, when the eastern half of the city turns in at a more sensible hour, fortifying for the next day of hard graft, while the Atlantic side gets a second wind after a balmly late seista at sunset.
And the 'wind shadow'? Well... Unlike its Mediteranean Climate cousins; from California's San Diego, to Spain and Greece; Cape Town sits at the tip of an continent, challgening whatever the Southern Ocean decides to hurl at it. Very often what gets hurled are either gargantuan seas or steady winds. But this is not a problem - a peninsula of land always has two coasts; and with the eddies and swirls there are predictable areas of calm or turbulence to provide ample variety of local weather conditons, guarnanteed to meet every taste on a given day.
Sailing, surfing, fishing, diving, languising on a beach or the lawns of a vineyard, hiking through a forest, up an exposed ridge or paragliding down... whatever one's desire, within a few minutes drive, all of this is possible.
On a longer cycle of observation (than day to day activities), the mountain changes the weather, the weather changes the climate, the climate changes the flora, the flora changes the lifestyle, the lifestyle dictates where you live... and what it costs to live, where you live!
The cascade of cause-and-effect is that pronounced - this is why Table Mountain dominates our lives.
It goes futher...
Most cities are built on the level, allowing town planners and other more vague factors to decide the suburb layouts; Not so in Cape Town - here, nature is in total control, and nature will remain in control.
Some cities have hills, yes; but hills aren't a blooming great block of rock jutting into the clouds.
And the clouds are a clue - the moisture-laden trade winds pushing in from the vast ocean are forced to rise over the mountain, and as they rise the moisture condenses into clouds and perpetual rains feeding perenial rivers.
On the leeside of the wind is yet another shadow - a rain shadow. The atmosphere, having spent its moisture, is dry and warm. This is our western coast, straddling the South Atlantic Ocean.
So, we have secret wooded valleys that could be confused with a rain forrest where the reclusive can find their harmony, harsh and rocky slopes where only succulents and mansions can cling to life, vast beaches for horses to gallop, intimate coves for divers to explore, two distinct oceans stocked with entirely different sea life and sailing characteristics.
And remember, all this drama; a cornocopia of climates that the entire regions on earth only see played out over hours of a drive; is taking place within a few minutes of car drive.
In a previous essay I dug into the fascinating history of Table Mountain's geology and formation - Why is there a huge mountain sticking out of the sea at this point? What's with the different types of rocks you find around the coast and layered up the slope?
The research for that essay revealed some staggering facts that most locals won't know - so astounding that I urge every resident or visitor to this fair place to give it a read. It truly is the "other half of the story" of Cape Town.
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