Table Mountain is one of the Mother City’s most iconic attractions, but since those hard-working builders trekked up the side of the mountain in 1929, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway has undergone some considerable facelifts to look like the Wonder of Nature it is today.
Here are some fun, historical facts about this amazing attraction that we bet you didn’t know:
- The Cableway had four founding fathers: The brainchild of the esteemed Norwegian engineer Trygve Stromsoe, the Cableway Company was founded by Stromsoe and his partners, Sir Alfred Hennessy, Sir David Graaff and Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and managed by their descendants until it was sold to in 1993.
- Construction of this site was dangerous: materials and workers were carted to the top of the Mountain in little more than an open box pulled on a temporary ropeway. Miraculously, no accidents occurred over the two year building period.
- The Evolution of a super cable car: the earliest cable car was made of wood and steel and could barely hold 19 passengers while the 2013 model boasts a state of the art, revolving floor and doors, which gives sight seekers a stunning view of the city and mountain.
- 19 to 20 million visitors: Since the humble 19 passengers who were visit treated to the view from the top, the Cableway has now seen more than 20 million people enjoy its phenomenal vistas.
- It’s a war veteran: The Cableway has survived two interruptions to its planned construction by the First Anglo-Boer War in 1880 and World War I, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.
- It calls one of the oldest mountains home: Yes, Table Mountain at 1067m above sea level and about 360 million years old, is eons older than the Himalayas and the Rockies.
- It’s an eco-diva: Responsible Tourism lies at the heart of all that the Cableway does. From the transportation of water and sewage to the Lower Station, using the cars as convoys to the disposable cutlery and crockery used in its restaurants, the Cableway is a “greenie”.
- It’s celebrity chick (and guy) magnet: This octogenarian is still turning famous heads. From Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) in 1947 to Searching for Sugarman star Sixto Rodriguez in 2012, they’ve all been awed by the amazing Cableway.
Website: www.tablemountain.net
