I really don't want to get started on the debate about tahrs on Table Mountain because, quite honestly, I'm not really sure what my views are on that subject. Obviously I've known about them for as long as I can remember but, until very recently, I'd never seen one. Then, on Friday, I did.
Weird, really. I've been to loads of game farms and seen lots of different animals, but seeing a tahr was really exciting. I know there is a lot of controversy about them and they are alien animals in a national park, but they're also cool.
We were strolling along on top of the mountain right near the top of Platteklip Gorge when Binny, our guide, went very quiet and pointed excitedly. Walking towards us without a care in the world was a tahr. I was amazed. I know they'd been hunted because they are not indigenous, and most animals that have been subjected to hunting are skittish around people.
Maybe it realised we were armed with nothing more lethal than a flask of tea. And I'd always assumed the few that remained hung out in the more inaccessible parts, not a half-hour stroll with a Zimmer frame from the cable station.
I did a bit of a search online and found a newspaper article that claimed they had been eradicated in 2004. Hmm, just goes to show you can't believe everything you read in the paper...
Anyhow, convinced it would scarper as soon as it realised we were there, I shot off a couple of photos. It sauntered past us but, after I'd followed it for a while, trying to get between it and the setting sun, it got a little irritated and just Spider-Manned down a seemingly sheer cliff. Amazing animal.
After we watched it disappear into some thick fynbos, we settled down to a serious picnic and then headed back towards the cable car.
We could see almost to Cape Point in one direction, with Hout Bay Harbour nestled between two peaks, and - on the other side - the city, Robben Island and Milnerton Beach with the Cape Flats stretching away to the distant mountains.
This is a view you really can't tire of. As well as the tahrs, the scenery and the odd dassie, there are the people.
We saw a woman in four-inch heels tottering unsteadily along, a rather unusual religious group who seemed to take the sackcloth issue literally, loads of kids, families, young lovers, old lovers and even one bride and groom. It's a real microcosm.
Some of our group had walked up Platteklip Gorge and some of us had come up by cable car, but we all opted for the easy way down.
It's a quick whoosh down the mountain and, before you've even had a chance to really enjoy the view, you're at the bottom and heading to your car.
If you go...
- The cable car trip is R85 one way or R160 return, with a 20 percent discount for Wild Card holders, and it's half-price after 6pm. Phone 021 424 0015 or see www.tablemountain.net
- For escorted walks anywhere on the mountain, with the option of taking the cable car one way (or both ways) contact Binny on 082 522 6056, or check out www.ridgeayramblers.co.za.
- Click on to www.vote7.com/n7w and vote for South Africa's only remaining entry.
And, remember, Table Mountain is one of the candidates in the competition to select the new seven wonders of the world.
