THE TABLE MOUNTAIN,CAPETOWN

For those who don't know, Table Mountain got its name for its uncanny resemblance to a table. And the man who first made the connection was Portuguese explorer, Antonio de Saldanha. In 1503, he became the first white man to hike up Table Mountain and named it Taboa do Cabo – Table of the Cape.

The main feature of Table Mountain is the level plateau approximately three kilometres (2 mi) from side to side, edged by impressive cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devil's Peak to the east and by Lion's Head to the west, forms a dramatic backdrop to Cape Town. This broad sweep of mountainous heights, together with Signal Hill, forms the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl and Table Bay harbour. The highest point on Table Mountain is towards the eastern end of the plateau and is marked by Maclear's Beacon, a stone cairn built in 1865 by Sir Thomas Maclear for trigonometrical survey. It is 1,086 metres (3,563 ft) above sea level, and about 19 metres (62 ft) higher than the cable station at the western end of the plateau.

The cliffs of the main plateau are split by Platteklip Gorge ("Flat Stone Gorge"), which provides an easy and direct ascent to the summit and was the route taken by Antonio de Saldanha on the first recorded ascent of the mountain in 1503.^[4]

The flat top of the mountain is often covered by  clouds, formed when a south-easterly wind is directed up the mountain's slopes into colder air, where the moisture condenses to form the so-called "table cloth" of cloud. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the devil and a local pirate called Van Hunks. When the table cloth is seen, it symbolizes the contest.

Table Mountain is at the northern end of a sandstone mountain range that forms the spine of the Cape peninsula that terminates approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) to the south at the Cape of good hope and Cape Point. Immediately to the south of Table Mountain is a rugged "plateau" at a somewhat lower elevation than the Table Mountain Plateau (at about 1,000 m or 3,300 ft), called the "Back Table". The "Back Table" extends southwards for approximately 6 km to the Constantia Nek hout bay valley. The Atlantic side of the Back Table, is known as the Twelve Apostles, which extends from Kloof Nek (the saddle between Table Mountain and Lion's head) to Hout Bay. The eastern side of this portion of the Peninsula's mountain chain, extending from Devil's peak, the eastern side of Table Mountain (Erica and Fernwood Buttresses), and the Back Table to ,Constantia Nek does not have single name, as on the western side. It is better known by the names of the conservation areas on its lower slopes: Groote Schuur Estate, Newslands forest, Gardens, Cecilia peak, and Constantia Nek . 

                                                         source : Google