Table Mountain is the icon of Cape Town, as Mandela the icon of our country. Apparently the V&A is the most visited place in Africa, by tourists, but they must surely all gaze up towards that flat table of a mountain and think “I wish to ascend that place”. Luckily for me, I managed to ascend this famous table mountain four times for work last year, and once for personal reasons. Personal as in: I wanted to drink coffee and eat carrot cake on the “top of the world”.

This year, however, I have decided to try and ascend it many, many more times. In the spirit of being smart about such things I have decided to buy a year-round cable car pass for the paltry sum of R472. R472, because, if you have a Wild Card, it’s nicely discounted. That means I can do up and down ten times for R47 and 20 cents; a bargain if you ask me. What I like to do on top makes it all the more worth it. You can stay on the mountain (if you know the right people and have access) for very cheap, and the views from up there are perfect. Perfect for a photographer wanting to be paid for taking glorious images of our wonderful city. Added to that, you live on a mountain! Can you imagine many (any!?) cities in the world where after work you can go up a mountain and stay the night there – in peace and quiet I might add – and return in the morning to your 9am desk job, on time, and no-one the wiser? I can’t. Well, maybe Rio, I don’t know. But for this sole reason Cape Town stands apart, and the cable car allows me to do so.

You could walk up, but it is not quite as incredible and easy as the three-minute ride, and 45-minute walk. Granted you have to take up dinner, breakfast and such but it is well worth it.