Most mountains come to a sharp point at the top. Table Mountain doesn't. Its summit is a long, flat plateau almost 3 kilometres across - long enough that you could fit a small farm up there. The flatness is the reason for its name.
Quite often, a thin blanket of cloud pours over the top of the mountain and slides down the side. South Africans call this the 'tablecloth'. It happens when warm wet air from the sea is pushed up the mountain, where it cools and turns into cloud.
You can reach the top in two ways. The first is to climb up using one of the many walking paths - it takes a couple of hours and the views get more spectacular every step. The second is a cable car that gently spins as it climbs, so everyone inside gets a turn at the best window.
Table Mountain is home to its own little world of plants. The slopes are covered in a type of bushy plant life called fynbos, which has more different flowers in one small area than almost anywhere else on Earth. Scientists call this kind of place a 'biodiversity hotspot'.

