Imagine....

The view is spectacular. Through 180 degrees you can see Robben Island in the distance with its halo of surf, Table View and the distant Hottentots Holland Mountains, the winelands of Stellenbosh and Franchhoek,  and majestic Table Mountain,  the iconic symbol of the Cape.

You relax while having lunch on the balcony of a stunning earth covered restaurant.

Built into the top of the hill and designed by one of the Cape's most admired architects, the building  retains the exact original contour lines of this important landmark. The facilities are excellent with visitor information centre, restaurant and café.

There are picnic tables where anyone can relax and enjoy the views. Clean toilets have replaced the porter loos that blighted the hillside for years. The telephone relay station is now underground and the tower replaced by a far less intrusive design.

Cars are no longer visible from the city  since they now arrive directly to the car park. The old summit road has been replaced by a grassy walking area that allows visitors to circumnavigate the summit. The reflection from the windscreens and congestion at the summit, for years a sad feature of this landmark, have now gone.

Once you finish your meal you decide to take the new luge track down the hill to the old magazine. These carts originally designed in New Zealand are powered by nothing more than gravity. You have seen them on the live-feed monitors at The Waterfront and are looking forward to this great fun product. You find the carts very easy to control and descend into the forest, there being a number of tracks to choose from. You decide on the beginners track to start and gently meander down the concrete track through this stunning forest. The cart makes almost no noise on its rubber wheels.

Who would have thought that this forest, almost in the center of town and for so long neglected was so stunning? The rubbish has been cleared and the undergrowth thinned. Dozens of jobs have been created to manage this new City Park. The fire risk is now managed, as is security.

You pass under a bridge where some walkers have stopped to watch. Some mountain bikers pass by and give you a wave. You pass picnic sites where families have gathered for a lazy day in the sun. As you come round a bend you recognize that this is the spot where a camera relays live pictures to The Waterfront and also to St Georges Mall. Those same pictures are also being relayed live on the internet along with pictures from 5 other cameras around the site. What a great idea. It allows people at home to see if the track is busy and also what the weather is doing and even to spot their friends.

You pass under the new cable-way taking day-trippers up to the summit of the hill. The low-level design and environmental colour scheme means that from the city it can hardly be seen. It has relieved much of the traffic congestion on Kloof Nek and at the summit.

After 10 minutes you arrive at the Old Magazine, the base station for this remarkable development. The magazine was derelict only 2 years ago and now with the help of National Heritage, the site has been cleaned, landscaped and restored. The original Magazine houses an art gallery and museum, to the left a coffee shop and restaurant sit by a lake. At the top of the site sit two more cafes, then the ‘red sheds’ now converted to an indoor craft market. The lower cable car station sits next door to the ‘red shed’. It is barely visible, being only a single story building and remarkably, the only noise is a very gentle hum from the electric motor. Three new car parks have been built using the existing contours of the site. Newly planted trees and shrubs adorn the landscape. The day nursery that sits at the lower end of the site has been renovated and remains in daily use.

As you look down the site, a car arrives from the Carrisbrook Road entrance. Due to the hours of business, the site has not created any traffic congestion. It's late opening at 9am and late closing at 11pm avoid adding to the peak-time traffic flow.

An electric bus leaves to take tourists to the Noon Gun; there’s an hourly shuttle. Every half an hour a bus leaves for the Waterfront.

After a look through the craft market you wonder down to the original Magazine. Built in the 1890s these buildings have been restored using the best local craftsmen. The hardwood window and door frames once stolen now replaced and the buildings repaired and painted. Inside the teak floors gleam. The magazine is split into 4 rooms each now housing a different art gallery. Displays are renewed on a regular basis.

Outside, a coffee shop borders a lake where people sit and chat. It reminds you of the garden at Spier Wine Estate. This used to be a rubbish dump and a health hazard but is now immaculate. 

Looking back at the hill, the cable way is visible as a line between the gum trees. The designers used ultra low towers so that it is less visible and it is color coded to the local vegetation. It certainly works. There is no question that it’s a very effective and environmentally friendly way to get people to the top and the cable ways in use in many of the worlds most sensitive areas, demonstrates this.

Joining a short queue you re enter the cable way base station where earlier today you bought your day pass. There are also family passes available which are great value.

Back onto the cable way and within seconds of leaving the base station for the 6 minute journey to the top you notice how absolutely quiet it is. No noise at all. There are 6 people maximum per car, 3 seated each side. The view is tremendous.

Below the cable way a family speed by on the luge. The youngest is 6 years, the oldest  80. The concept is so simple yet such great fun for the entire family. A very young child, perhaps two years old, rides with their parent.

On each pylon a camera monitors the forest area. These are monitored by the site's own security personnel and allow them to monitor fires or illegal activity.

As you ride higher you pass the descending cable cars, some with people returning to the old magazine base station. Back at the top it's time for another go, this time on a faster track. In New Zealand over four million people have ridden the luge making it one of the country's most popular tourist attractions.

As you get to the top and return to the luge start point, there are photos of the site as it used to be. Run down, dirty with no facilities. Blighted with crime and mostly off limits. Now only two years later a new city park has been created to be used by local and overseas tourists.

Just as importantly, a new and safe recreation area for the residents of the Cape peninsula. 300 direct and hundreds more indirect jobs have been created and millions are being paid in license fees and tax to local government. Crime has all but disappeared from the area. A major historical site has been renovated and is now open to the public.

Traffic congestion has been hugely reduced at the top of the hill and also at Kloof Nek. Fire, litter and forest management are now in place with huge benefits to the local fire department as well as local residents and the Cape Peninsula National Park.

A new city park has been created that massively complements the Cape Town experience, a development to make the city proud.