Table mountain

Introduction

 * 1) Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa, and is featured in the Flag of Cape Town and other local government insignia. Wikipedia
 * 2) Address: Plateau Rd, Simon's Town, Cape Town, 7995, South Africa
 * 3) Elevation: 1,085 m
 * 4) Prominence: 1,055 m

First ascent: 1503
To the Cape’s indigenous people – the Khoi-Khoi pastoralists and the San hunter-gatherers – the area now occupied by central Cape Town was known as Camissa,  Place of Sweet Water, as anyone who has drunk from Table Mountain’s streams would attest to. When Portuguese explorer, Antonio de Saldanha, climbed Table Mountain in 1503 (the first European to do so) to get his bearings, he was delighted to find a strong stream flowing down the ravine (now known as Platteklip Gorge) by which he had gained the summit, more than enough to water his fleet. The bay at the foot of the mountain, present-day Table Bay, became known as Aguada de Saldanha, Watering Place of De Saldanha. Dutchman Wouter Schouten, who tasted the water on the mountain in 1665, had this to say about it: “We found it quite sweet and exceptionally pleasant in taste… Our heavenly liquid now tasted better than ordinarily does the most exquisite drink in the world.”