Richards Rambles

Category: Table Mountain

  • Stop Motion Photography

    I have been trying to get clouds to look good using stop motion photography. This is the first time I have gotten reasonable results. I just forgot to level the camera. Next time!

    A GIF of Table Mountain with filmy clouds passing over. The mountain is flat on top and occupies the lower 10% of the image. Thin filmy clouds move from bottom right of the image to top left. The sky is a cerulean blue

  • Floodlit Table Mountain

    On special occasions, the Council switches on huge spot lights and lights the front face of Table mountain. Tonight is one of those nights.

    Table mountain is shown in the bottom third of the photo. I havent fiddled the white balance so the mountain is a green colour which is quite nice. The rest of the image has stars in a black background The top cable car station is visible on the flat top of the mountain
    Table mountain is shown in the bottom third of the photo. I havent fiddled the white balance so the mountain is a green colour which is quite nice. The rest of the image has stars in a black background The top cable car station is visible on the flat top of the mountain

  • Scorpio Setting

    I went out to try out a new lens for my camera and got this image of Lion’s Head with Scorpio setting head first.
    Click the image for best viewing.

    The photo is a night image Lions head and high peak is in the centre of the image. The peak has bare rock on top of vegetation covered slopes City lights are visible in the bottom half of the image. Stars surround the peak with Scorpio nearly set to the left of the peak

  • Clouds hurrying over Table Mountain

    The cold front reaches Table Mountain

  • Fire on Lion’s Head

    There was a huge fire on Lion’s Head recently. It burnt all through the night.

  • Nighttime over Gardens

    Living in Gardens Cape Town is a privilege. The views are extraordinary. Here are some night time photos. Venus and the moon in close conjunction.

  • Sunset over Table Mountain and Lions Head

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  • Disas on Table Mountain

    I climbed Table Mountain and found the red disas that endemic to table mountain. Red Disas or more accurately, Table Mountain Disas is the flower that the Western Cape sports teams use as their emblem.

    Aside from nearly killing myself in the climb up, it was an amazing experience and well worth the sore legs.

    The really nice thing about being in the richest floral kingdom on earth is that there are ALWAYS a number of species flowering, no matter what time of the year you go out looking. This trip was no different.

    Just to give you some idea of the difference between our floral kingdom and the rest of the world, Table Mountain alone has more flowering species than the entire United Kingdom has.

    Here are some of those pictures:

    I went up Skeleton Gorge and you can see the steepness of the trek.

    Me. I had to prove I was there and not looking too exhausted.

    The top. At last! Muizenberg in the distance and False Bay in the background.

    An unidentified blommie until I looked it up and lo and behold, another disa! Disa Ferruginea. Pays to do some reseach doesn’t it?

    King Protea (Protea Cynoroides). The dew drops are for real. I was up there very early.

    Campylostachys cernua. I was sorry I looked this one up. Blommie is so much easier to spell.

    Gladiolus Monticola. I think. If you are a botanist, break it to me genly if I have gotten it wrong, but it is rather photogenic.

    And here ladies and gentlemen is the star of the show. Disa Uniflora, the red disa, pride of table mountain. Take your pick. Pretty isn’t it and really worth the walk.

    This guy came out to see what all the fuss was about and kindly agreed to be photographed.

    More gladiolus? There were lots of them and they really look much better than the pictures make them out to be.

    There were literally hundreds of disas. They are DIFFICULT to photograph. They live in dark holes surrounded by bright sunlight. Metering the camera is a nightmare and camera shake quite a common problem.

    A waterfall. It had disas in it, but I couldn’t get disas and the waterfall, so just imagine disas!

    He joined me for lunch.

    More Disas!

    This scene was so much like something from Lord of the Rings, I just had to take it. The End of the Road!

    Agathapanthus Africanus. Growing wild on the Back Table.

    Hely Hutchison reservoirs on the Back Table and the end of the disa route.

    The way down. Nursery Ravine. And believe me it doesn’t nurse anyone!

  • Platteklip Left B – Climbing Table Mountain one of the more dangerous ways

    Cleaning up my website, I found a page that went missing from my memory and from the web for technical reasons.
    A group of friends and I climbed Plattekkip Left B some years ago. The climb provided some really lekker pics.
    So join some friends and I in a trip up Table Mountain like you probably haven’t seen it before.

    Platteklip Left B Face

    Be warned. This is not a stroll. It can be dangerous.

    There is an easier route, the normal Platteklip Gorge route.

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