A TOURIST from Aberdeen got a very pleasant surprise when he arrived to board the Table Mountain Cableway in South Africa.
For Andrew Harrow, 80, was told that he had just become Table Mountain Cableway’s 27 millionth visitor – and he very nearly didn’t make the visit.
After purchasing his ticket at the Lower Station, Harrow, together with his wife Jo, was surprised by Cableway staff members and given a gift. This included Cableway tickets, an official 27 millionth visitor certificate and a variety of Top and Table Mountain Café gifts.
“This has been an amazing surprise,” said Andrew. “This is our first time in South Africa, and our first visit to Table Mountain.
“As a friend of mine always says, when you wake up in the morning you never quite know how the day will turn out. We almost didn’t visit the mountain today, and how very lucky that we did.”
Table Mountain is one of the most iconic sights in Africa. It soars 3500ft above Cape Town and the plateau at the top gives the impression of a giant table. It is around 500 million- years-old.
The mountain is often covered by a layer of cloud that is known as the Table Cloth, and visitors flock to either hike to the top or take the cable car, which was first installed in 1929 but is now on its third system – a Rotair cableway that was brought into operation in 1997.
It now regularly handles 800,000 to 900,000 passengers a year, but the Cableway’s Managing Director Wahida Parker said the latest million took only 12 months to achieve, owing to consistent visitor numbers throughout 2017.
“In reaching this milestone, we are privileged to celebrate being successful custodians of such an iconic attraction,” said Parker.
“There is something wonderful about being able to witness the excitement and awe so many of our visitors experience when summiting Table Mountain.”
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