As a swimmer, canoeist and photographer, Cape Town holds endless attractions for me. With sand beaches, mountains, a bustling port, shopping malls, night life and restaurants that offer all kinds of food, it has plenty to offer to tourists of different tastes and budgets.

When I was in South Africa last year I couldn’t visit it due to bad weather and chose Durban instead which was warm and sunny. In May this year, I was back in South Africa and decided to visit Cape Town as Pretoria or Johannesburg (or Jo’burg) seemed boring to me.

Despite being discouraged by my local friends I was resolute. They advised me to come to South Africa in December and visit Cape Town when the weather would be better but I set their advice aside. While shopping at Menlyn Park in Pretoria, I spotted a travel firm’s office. The agent quoted (South African Rand) ZAR5,800 for a round trip to Cape Town from Jo’burg. I was about to pay for and reserve a seat when a thought struck me: I must check the internet — which I did at night when I reached my guesthouse. I was surprised to learn that I could buy the same ticket online for just ZAR1,831. I clicked the “Accept” button as I didn’t want to waste time and lose the seat. It was a budget flight — the Mango Airline, and in keeping with its name the colour of the aircraft was orange!

Set in the dramatic backdrop of the Table Mountain, the city caters to a variety of tastes and budgets

A drive on this mountain trail is a thrilling experience

There was also the option of taking a luxury night train — The Blue Train — from Jo’burg to Cape Town but that would take 18 hours. A backpacker like me could have seen a lot in 18 hours. I recalled my hectic trip to Florence from Venice in 2011 when I had visited the star attractions in Florence within eight hours. Soon after securing a seat with Mango Airlines, I booked a beautiful owner-run guesthouse, Huijs Haerlem, at Main Road in Cape Town which was just in the middle of one of the star attractions of the city — The Table Mountain. The guesthouse was run by Johan, a thoroughly professional old man, and his young assistant Alex.

Johan gave me the best room of his property that had a canopy bed for ZAR3,570 for five nights, including a buffet breakfast a la a five star hotel. My room’s balcony overlooked the Atlantic Ocean and the only problem was the foghorn of the lighthouse that would wake me at dawn.

At the Cape Town Airport, cab drivers try to rip you off. The first driver asked for ZAR400. The third driver, Qadir, was the most reasonable and charged only ZAR200. But on the way back to the airport from my guesthouse, the metered taxi charged me ZAR350! Cape Town’s weather was erratic in May; I was lucky to have three sunny days out of six. Table Mountain is the highest place in Cape Town and a cable car can take you to the top from where you can have a breathtaking view of the city and take memorable shots. The cable car was closed despite the day being sunny; the reason being that it was too windy. I had been following the Table Mountain Cableway on twitter and it finally opened on the fifth day and I reached there without wasting a minute.

A trio of unknown musicians making great music at Waterfront

However it seems everyone else had the same idea, and thanks to the long queues of tourists, it took me 45 minutes to buy the ticket. Within minutes we were on top of the mountain which had a huge plain surface with trees and a lot of vegetation and some wildlife. Only after reaching the top, I understood why the locals say that if you have not visited the Table Mountain, consider that you have not been to Cape Town.

Only after reaching the top, I understood why the locals say that if you have not visited the Table Mountain, consider that you have not been to Cape Town.

Mountain after mountain, just like the layers of an onion!

But surprisingly my driver, who was over 60 years old, had never been to the top of the mountain — for economic reasons! The ocean’s beauty was best exposed from the top of the mountain. I took hundreds of pictures from different angles while staying there for 45 minutes. On the way back, I decided to walk instead of taking a cab. It was a 90-minute descending walk to my guesthouse, but I walked to the Waterfront instead— the port where I had fish (hake) and chips. (I love hake and eat it as much as I can whenever I am outside Pakistan since I don’t get it in Islamabad.)

There are dozens of souvenir shops at the Waterfront, where you can find very fine local jewellery. At the Waterfront, you have the option to choose from a number of tour packages. One of them is a 90-minute pirate cruise tour but that day, the cable was open and the cruise was closed because the ocean was turbulent. I wanted to visit the Robben Island Museum where the great Nelson Mandela was imprisoned but the tides were very strong and no ship was going there, not even helicopters (you could have booked a helicopter trip too).

Mavericks Gentlemen’s revue bar is the place for a tourist like me to spend the evening. You just pay ZAR100 as entrance fee, buy a couple of drinks and fill the nostalgic heart with colours of music and life. Mavericks is not as good as the Moulin Rouge in Paris but it’s the best that Cape Town offers.

Before taking the flight back to Jo’burg, I spent a couple of hours at Canal Walk shopping centre from where I bought a range of resistance bands, handles and had one of my favourite meals — a beef steak — at Spur. Cape Town’s infinite glamour can’t be summarised in a short write-up, but the pictures I have taken say much more.

The writer is an Islamabad-based journalist and researcher. Yamankalyan@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 4th, 2015