Cape Town is situated on the far South Western tip of Africa, about 1600 km from Johannesburg. It has a well established public transport system and Cape Town International Airport is the second busiest in the country. Tourism in Cape Town peaks between December and March when the city lazes through mid summer. Cape Town's most popular tourist attractions are Table Mountain and the V&A Waterfront, but those are just two of many. The Mother City has a bustling night-life that includes restaurants of all kinds, and many clubs and pubs spread around the city.

Other tourist attractions include cultural and historical sights such as the many museums sprinkled around the city. The Castle of Good Hope and many other business and historical landmarks depict the birth of our beautiful Mother City. For the more adventurous, there are hiking/biking trails, some of which are on Table Mountain and fishing in the bay beneath its shadow. For the night owl, Cape Town has many hot-spots including the nostalgic Elvis at Graceland.

The V&A Waterfront
In the 1970's, people had become uninterested in the Waterfront which was a grey and unattractive working area. This kindled a desire to renovate and return the Waterfront to Cape Town and to its people. Since then, great steps have been taken in ensuring that the Waterfront development project is successful in preserving the history of Cape Town.

The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront now draws great numbers of fun-seeking teenagers (of all ages). The old Victorian setting has been preserved by restoring many nineteenth century buildings. The shells of significant buildings were kept, thus preserving their historical interest. Robinson Dry Dock's, Pumphouse, the Electric Light and Power Station and the Breakwater Prison have been converted into a small theatre, various bars, and the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business respectively.

The dockland has also been developed as a mixed-use area, while continuing as a working harbour. It has a wide range of activities to appeal to as broad a spectrum of the community as possible. The Waterfront has become a popular place to meet for the people of the New South Africa.

Table Mountain
Table Mountain, with its distinct shape, is one of the best-known mountains in the world. It is not very high, but its impressive sandstone cliffs rise up to 1087 metres (3563 ft) from the sea to form a backdrop to the city beneath. The top of Table Mountain has an annual rainfall of 1400 mm (55 inches) during the winter months of May to September. A few light snowfalls occur but the mountain is not high or cold enough to hold the snow for longer than a few hours!

The Table 'Cloth'
The crowning glory to the Table is its 'cloth', a spectacular white sheet of cloud which descends over the flat summit from south to north as a result of the summer South-Easter or 'Cape Doctor' - so called because it blows the stale polluted air of the city out to sea.

Hiking and Climbing on Table Mountain
The first recorded climb to the summit was in 1503 when the Portuguese navigator, Antonio da Saldanha, led a party up the mountain. Today thousands of people hike to the summit of Table Mountain. It is said that we have a unique asset in our civic backyard of a gigantic playground of rocks, streams, waterfalls, flowers and many kilometres of paths for walkers. Serious climbers have about 250 different routes to climb ranging from easy scramblers to those graded from A to G. These include some of the most exposed and severe rock climbs known to mountaineers. All climbs are on good hard sandstone cliffs.

The Cableway
In 1927 the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company Ltd was established. The first cable-car ran to the summit in 1929 and since that day there has been no accident of a serious nature on the cableway.

In recent years the Cableway has become increasingly popular both to South Africans and foreign tourists. The two cabins counterbalance each other and take less than five minutes to do the journey which seems much longer to the visitor as views of towering precipices and vast views of the ocean and city below unfold.

Table Mountain and The Cape Floral Kingdom
Table Mountain was proclaimed a Natural and Historic Monument in 1951 and is now applying for recognition as a World Heritage Site. This means that for Capetonians and visitors a huge recreation ground in the middle of the city will be kept in perpetuity for their use.

Many plants are unique to the mountain. About 1470 of the Western Cape's 8550 species of plants grow on Table Mountain and some of them occur nowhere else. These include the beautiful silver tree and many species of orchid. The flora of the south of the Western Cape Province of South Africa is so rich that this small area on its own constitutes one of the world's six Floral Kingdoms- the Cape Kingdom.

In local parlance the flora is called "fynbos" or fine bush, because of its small drought-resistent leaves. The fynbos has three main components - proteas, ericas, and restios (or reeds). Despite the infertility of the Cape's sandy soils, fynbos is uniquely rich in orchids, gladiola, irises and many other beautiful plants. The Cape restios make up 90 percent of the vegetation of the Front Table facing Cape Town. These were extensively used by early settlers for thatching the roofs of their houses.

Alien Plants
There are about twenty plant species recognised as dangerous invaders in the Western Cape. Australian plants such as 'Rooikrans', Port Jackson willow and hakea as well as the European cluster pine grow prolifically and smother the natural plants. These trees are thirstier than naturally adapted plants and reduce run-off into streams and reservoirs. Burning the plants does not help as they are stimulated by fire to release vast numbers of seed. One of the only effective means of eradication is by 'hacking' them out - a labour-intensive operation which has been converted into a job-creation programme for unemployed people in Cape Town.