Cape Town & Table mountain 1996

I came across this old photo of mid-1990 recently, probably taken with an old Kodak 100 flip-top. Standing across Table bay on Blouberg strand (literally means Blue mountain beach), the mountain is likely still as picture perfect as to the time the first European settlers arrive in 1652. The water although is very cold and probably the only thing "wrong" with this image. International tourism has flourished in the last 2 decades and property market sky-rocket due to international buyers. The rather large Cape Peninsula that strechtes around the back of the mountain is an amazing scenic drive and the 4-5 day hiking trial around the edge of the Table mountain nature reserve must be even better than the drive itself.

Our former late President Mandela who was imprisoned for more than 20 years on the small Robben Island a few km-miles to the right of my view point, must have drawn inspiration and strength from this view across the bay.
The Cape Floral Kingdom (Capensis) is one of only 6 floristic kingdoms in the world. It is also the smallest and richest per unit of area of all 6 regions.
Fynbos (-ˈfeɪnbɒs-; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈfɛi̯nbos] meaning fine-leaved plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located on the Western Cape of South Africa. This area is predominantly winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. In fields related to biogeography, fynbos is known for its exceptional degree of biodiversity and endemism, consisting about 80% (8,500 fynbos) species of the Cape floral kingdom where nearly 6,000 of them are endemic.
The mountain has greater significance for me personally as I was born right at the foot of the mountain and grew up in the area till the age of 20.

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