3.1 Table Mountain
Table mountain (Table Mountain) is a mountain top flat is a well-known prominent place that dominates the Cape Town in South Africa, which is represented in the flag of Cape Town and other logos of local governments. It is a major tourist attraction, with many visitors using the cableway or by hiking to reach the top. The mountain is part of the table Mountain National Park. In addition, it is from the November 11 one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
The main feature of the table mountain is a plateau at approximately 3 km from side to side, surrounded by steep cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devil's peak (Devil completo Peak) to the East and by the head of León (Lion's Head) to the West, forms a dramatic backdrop for the city of Cape Town and the table Bay Harbour, and together with Signal Hill form the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl.
The highest point of the table mountain is to the East of the plateau and is marked by the lighthouse of Maclear (Beacon Maclear), a mound of stones as landmark built in 1865 by Sir Thomas Maclear for trigonometric research. It is 1086 m above the sea level, around 19 m higher than the station of the cable car at the western end of the plateau.
Features
Table Mountain seen from lion's head.
The main feature of the table mountain is a plateau at approximately 3 km from side to side, surrounded by steep cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devil's peak (Devil completo Peak) to the East and by the head of León (Lion's Head) to the West, forms a dramatic backdrop for the city of Cape Town and the table Bay Harbour, and together with Signal Hill form the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl.
The highest point of the table mountain is to the East of the plateau and is marked by the lighthouse of Maclear (Beacon Maclear), a mound of stones as landmark built in 1865 by Sir Thomas Maclear for trigonometric research. It is 1086 m above the sea level, around 19 m higher than the station of the cable car at the western end of the plateau
The cliffs of the main chain are split by Platteklip Gorge ("flat stone Gorge"), which provides an easy and direct ascent to the Summit and was a route taken by Antonio de Saldanha in the first rise recorded on the mountain in 1503.
The top flat of the mountain is often covered by orographic clouds, formed when a Southeast wind is directed up the slopes of the mountain in a cold air, where the moisture condenses to form the so-called "tablecloth" of cloud. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a competition between the devil and a local pirate called Van Hunks-smoking. When you view the tablecloth, the competition is symbolized.
The table mountain is located at the northern end of a ridge of sandstone that form the foothills of the Cape Peninsula. The lower part of the mountain range called the black table (Back Table) is located south of the main plateau. On the Atlantic coast, the Andes mountain range is known as the twelve apostles (Twelve Apostles). The cordillera continues towards the South towards Cape Point.
Panorama from the top of the table mountain, from left to right are visible lion's head, Signal Hill, Robben Island, the center of Cape Town, table Bay, and Devil's peak.
Geology
Peninsula Cape and the table mountain - LandSat image over the lifting by the topography mission Shuttle Radar. North is to the left of the image, and the table mountain is in the foreground at the northern end of the peninsula.
The top of the mountain mesa consists of sandstone ordovicica cuarcitica, commonly referred to as sandstone of Table Mountain (Table Mountain Sandstone) (TMS), which is highly resistant to erosion and forms characteristic grey sheer cliffs. Below the sandstone is a layer of micaceous basal shale, which is cured very quickly and therefore it is not easy to see. The bottom layer is shale from Malmesbury deeply folded and modified at end of the Precambrian period, which has been replaced by granite of the Cape (Cape Granite). The rocks of the lower layer are not narrowly as resistant to exposure to the elements as the table mountain sandstone but significant outcrops of Cape granite are visible in the western part of lion's head.
Table Mountain from the slopes of lion's head.
Flora
The main vegetation of the mountain is the unique and rich fynbos of the Cape, which is part of the protected areas of the Kingdom the Cape floristic. These protected areas are heritage, and an estimated 2,200 species of plants are found only in the mountain. Among these species are many kinds of proteas. Patches remaining indigenous forest persist in a few damp ravines but not in the more exposed face above the city, where conditions are very dry and unfavourable to the forests. The mountain also suffered serious invasions of plants strange for an entire century, which may have been the worst invader is the maritime pine. Considerable efforts have been made to eliminate these strange plants.
Fauna
The most common animal of the mountain is the dassie or rock hyrax. They are especially grouped around the station's top cable, near areas where tourists thrown away or (illegally) to provide food. There are also porcupines, mongooses, snakes and turtles. The last lion in the area was shot circa 1802. Leopards persisted on the mountain until perhaps the 1920s but are now locally extinct. Two small secretive nocturnal carnivores, the rooikat (caracal) and the vaalboskat (also called the vaalkat or African wild cat) were once common on the mountain. The rooikat continues to be seen on rare occasions by mountaineers but the status of the vaalboskat is uncertain.
The tahres of the Himalayas, descendants of fugitives from tahres who escaped from Groote Schuur Zoo in 1936, were common in the less accessible upper parts of the mountain. As exotic species, they were almost scoured through a culling programme initiated by the national parks of South Africa to encourage the reintroduction of indigenous klipspringers. Until recently there were also small numbers of European fallow deer of European origin and deer sambar of South-East Asia. These were mainly in the area of Rhodes Memorial, but during the 1960s, they could be found in relatively remote places. Animals can be removed or relocated.
History
Human prehistoric left evidence here more than 600,000 years ago. These hunter-gatherers of the lower Paleolithic tools were found in a depression near the Cape of good hope. Mid-stone age inhabitants (dating from 200,000 to 40,000 years) also left evidence of his life on the peninsula. Fossils from around 8000 BC indicate that for the period in which the inhabitants had developed bows and arrows used to hunt.
The san (or Bushmen) hunters gatherers were dependent on the sea for most of its food. This resulted in the Dutch name, Strandlopers (Beach launderers). About 2000 years ago the khoikhoi migrated from the North, displacing the san, bringing with them their herds of cattle and sheep. Were the khoikhoi who were the dominant tribe when the Europeans sailed towards Bay of the Mesa.7
Antonio de Saldanha was the first European to land in table Bay. He climbed the impressive mountain in 1503 and named it 'Table mountain'. The great cross that the Portuguese Navigator carved lion's head rock is still easy to find.
In 1796, during the British occupation of the Cape, James Henry Craig ordered to be built three blockhouse in the table mountain: the King's blockhouse (King's blockhouse), blockhouse of the Duke of York (the Duke of York blockhouse) (later renamed Queen's blockhouse [Queen's blockhouse]) and the blockhouse of the Prince of Wales (Prince of Wales blockhouse). Two of these are in ruins today, but the King's blockhouse is still in good condiciones.8 9 10 easily accessible from the Rhodes Memorial.
Between 1896 and 1907, five dams, the Woodhead, Hely-Hutchinson, De Villiers, Alexandria and Victoria, were opened in the black table to provide the needs of the black table. A cable car that climbs from Camps Bay via the Kasteelspoort ravine was used to transport materials and labor (in the old top station anchor points you can still see). There is a well-preserved steam locomotive of this period in the Waterworks Museum at the top of the mountain near the Hely-Hutchinson dam. It has been used to haul materials for the dam across the top flat of the mountain. Cape Town water requirements have since surpassed the capacity of the dams and are no longer an important part of the water supply
The mountain became part of the new Park national of the Cape Peninsula in the early 1990s. The Park was renamed as the table Mountain National Park in 1998.
Fires are common in the mountains. The most recent fire occurred in January 2006, destroying large amounts of vegetation and resulting in the death of a tourist.