Table Mountain at Sunrise

By Ava Laurent · Cape Town, South Africa · 2025-12-11

Table Mountain at sunrise means a 4:30am start up Platteklip Gorge. Headlamps, cold air, the city lights below.

Worth every step. The sun came up over the Hottentots Holland mountains and lit the whole city pink.

Down by the rotating cable car, because my knees said so.

Bo-Kaap for koeksisters and the brightest houses in Africa.

The Waterfront, with Table Mountain watching over everything.

Lion's Head at sunset two days later, because one mountain was not enough.

Camps Bay, with the Twelve Apostles lined up behind it.

Chapman's Peak Drive, the most dramatic coastal road I have ever been on.

Boulders Beach. Penguins. That is the whole caption.

Cape Point, where the oceans meet, or almost.

Then the Winelands. Franschhoek by the wine tram.

The wine tram hops between estates, so nobody has to drive.

Stellenbosch, white Cape Dutch gables among the vines.

A long vineyard lunch that turned into dinner.

Last evening at Bloubergstrand, the postcard view. I will be back for the sunrise again.