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Photograph Table Mountain flat against the sky from Bloubergstrand

From the car park at Bloubergstrand the mountain sits dead level on the horizon, as if someone had sliced the top off with a ruler. The view faces south across Table Bay, about 25 kilometres of open water between you and the city. Arrive before eight and the rock is bare granite grey; wait until mid-morning in summer and a flat white cloud, the tablecloth, spills over the summit and stays there. Locals check the wind before they check the light. The good photographs all get taken in the same twenty minutes, just after the sun clears the dunes and before the southeaster starts pushing cloud over the edge.

Practical

Cost
Free
Best time
Autumn mornings (Apr–May) when the southeaster is calmer and cloud cover is less
Difficulty
Easy
Time it takes
A few hours including travel and waiting for the right light
What people get wrong
Arriving after 9am in summer, once the tablecloth cloud has already settled over the summit, and not checking the wind forecast before setting out.
With
Alone

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