As I’m not a huge fan or heights or cable cars, by the time we’d got to the front of the que to get in the metal box that would take us up to the top, I was freaking out a little. They’ve recently installed a new system so the actual cable cars are very flash; they have a rotating floor so you get to see the immense view as you go up. Not my idea of fun. I thought I’d give it a go but within a few seconds of slowly rising into the sky I thought better of it and sat down in the centre so that I wouldn’t be on the rotating floor (plus I couldn’t see out the windows from there) and pretended I was on a bus.
Once we were up I was fine with the height, as it tends to be being up high on man made things that can break, rather than the actual height that bothers me. We walked around the path for a little while then Jemma decided to go off and have a coffee while Glenn and I continued looking around the nature reserve. You are told to stick to the path when you leave the cable car but as with most things in Africa, no one pays much attention so most people were scrambling up on the rocks to get a better view. There are no safety barriers or anything so if you slip it’s your problem. I wanted to see the view and get a few photos of the city below so Glenn would go to the edge first to judge whether I’d cope with the height before calling me over (luckily for me he is fine with heights). We wandered around the reserve while Glenn explained some of the facts about the wildlife to me. We found a couple of Dasies which aren’t found in very many other places but they seem to like the habitat at the top of the mountain. They are strange looking creatures, a little bit like huge hamsters.
The view from the top is absolutely incredible. You can see all the bays below you plus you get a good view of Robin Island which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. You’re so high in fact that the view is quite surreal, it doesn’t really feel like the city below you is actually real. Surprisingly there was no wind the day we were there so it was very hot. We all caught the sun a little and ended up with beautiful panda eyes (mostly Jem and I though). We caught up with Jemma and all got ice creams before joining the que to the cable car to take us back down. This time I was really sure I’d stand up and look at the view, but again within a few seconds I’d changed my mind and sat back down again. The member of staff noticed how scared I was and decided to embarrass me when we got to the bottom by asking everyone over the microphone to give me a round of applause. For some reason one guy sang happy birthday to me in German leaving me looking a little confused then sang it again in English. I’m not sure why he thought it was my birthday, maybe he misunderstood the announcement. Looking up at the towering mountain above me, I was happy to have my feet firmly on the ground again.
No comments:
Post a Comment