There are some things that sound manageable in theory. Climbing Table Mountain is one of them.
This year, a group of Flowstars took part in the Cableway Charity Challenge, which sees participants hike up Platteklip Gorge as many times as they can between sunrise and sunset. Each lap helps raise funds for local charities and community organisations across Cape Town, with beneficiaries including Funda Kunye, Volunteer Wildfire Services and Wilderness Search and Rescue. This challenge was about much more than endurance. It was about turning effort on the mountain into practical support for the communities and services that help keep the city going.
We had been involved with the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway through our client work, but taking part ourselves gave us a different understanding of what the challenge is really about. It is something special to be surrounded by people on the mountain who are choosing to push themselves for something that matters.
For some of the team, it was their first time hiking up Table Mountain. For others, it was a reminder that even if you have done it before, climbing the mountain does not suddenly become easy. As Sabo Ndlovu put it, “I’ve hiked Table Mountain before, but somehow forgot just how tough it can be.”
And it was tough.
The thing that made the day memorable was not just the climb, but the atmosphere around it. Everyone was friendly, encouraging and genuinely excited to see others keep going. There was a lot of “you’ve got this” being passed around, up and down the cliffside.
That support made a real difference.
Sabo had originally planned to do one lap, but with the team cheering each other on, she pushed through and completed a second. Richard Frank also completed two laps and said what stood out for him was how all the participants kept urging each other on. He also pointed out how incredible it is that the top participants climb the equivalent of Kilimanjaro in one day!
To be clear, we were not those people.
Some participants completed an unbelievable number of laps. We did not. The day was not about who could do the most, but rather about who would show up, do something difficult for a good cause and push a little further than they thought they could. A real test of endurance.
Riefkah Adams described it as “a powerful reminder of what people can achieve when they push their limits for a greater purpose”, and that felt like the heart of the day. Everybody had their own version of the challenge, whether that was getting up the mountain for the first time, going back for another lap or simply finding the energy to keep moving.
Sarah-Jane Viljoen captured another aspect of the day well, saying that she is “not an athlete in any sense” but was proud of the resilience and strength she found in herself. That probably sums up why the challenge worked so well as a team experience. You did not need to arrive as a mountain goat; you just needed to be willing to try.
By the end of the day, there were sore legs, a lot of respect for Table Mountain and the volunteers who work there, and a much better understanding of why people keep coming back to this event year after year.
It was hard, supportive, humbling and genuinely memorable. And some of the team are already talking about adding another lap next year.
