Dexter

Since booking the first part of our trip in Cape Town, we knew we wanted to hike Table Mountain. Considered one of the Seven Wonders of Nature, Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain with an elevation of 3,500 feet -- and it's a significant tourist attraction in Cape Town. 

Thursday's weather was looking good -- sunny and in the 60s -- and so we designated that day our Table Mountain hike day.

On Thursday morning, we took an Uber to Mulberry & Prince, a delicious restaurant that Tim's sister Tessa's South African friend had recommended. The Uber driver who took us there was from...guess! Yes, Zimbabwe! He, too, had been in South Africa for several years. Even in the span of our short, 15-minute drive to breakfast, our driver got "deep," as Wyatt said. He was an introspective guy who shared profound thoughts on both Cape Town and humanity at 8:45am. It was an excellent start to our morning.

We ate breakfast and then met up with Dexter, our Uber driver from the prior evening. Dexter had taken us from the V&A Waterfront following our Robben Island tour to the restaurant Zest (highly recommend; our waitress was from Zimbabwe) for dinner.

We all instantly liked Dexter and had a lively, informative conversation with him from the V&A to dinner. He shared that he did private driving as well and offered to drive us wherever we needed around Cape Town. We told him we wanted to visit Table Mountain and the Cape of Good Hope -- he was all in.

So, now, back to Thursday morning. We piled into Dexter's car after breakfast and drove up to Table Mountain; not a far drive from the center of Cape Town. We had received conflicting reports from others around Cape Town: "Table Mountain is closed." "You can't get up there." "Table Mountain is open, but the cable car is closed." We wanted to just see for ourselves.

Dexter told us that, although he'd driven many tourists to Table Mountain, he'd never hiked it. He said he would do the hike with us; we were all thrilled, because we were loving our conversation with him.

We couldn't park where we wanted to, as there was construction and the road to the parking lot was closed. Dexter found another parking lot, we exited the car, and we made our way to the trail. At the start to the trail, we saw a sign that said "trail temporarily closed." Prior to our visit, Cape Town had received a ton of rain, and there had been a mud slide along the trail.

Dexter saw some locals doing a photo shoot near the trail, and he went over to speak with them. We followed. There was a young man who advised us not to do the hike. "I run the trail all the time; it's open," he said. "But you're getting a late start [it was 10:30am]. It'll take you 6-8 hours to do this hike. You'll be coming back in the dark. I don't advise it." With our antennae firmly up, Tim and I had a quick conversation about hiking Lion's Head instead, a smaller mountain next to Table Mountain -- and an easier and faster hike.

But Dexter encouraged us. "We can do this, guys!" he exclaimed. "Today's our day!" And then we came across another family and a female tourist from China. They were all going to start the hike, although the family wasn't sure how far they'd make it. 

All right, we were in. We'd do the hike. And so we started. The path was flat and beautiful and we moved quickly. About 30 minutes in, we came across another local. We told him what we were doing and he asked, "Do you have a map? Or a guide?" Our answer to both questions was no, and he shook his head at us. "Be careful out there," he said. His comments gave us a bit of a pause, but here again, Dexter was absolutely exuberant. "Don't give up! We can do this!" He was so excited to hike Table Mountain, and we got jazzed from his excitement.

The female hiker was in front of us, and she seemed to know the way (having received instructions from someone else), so we followed her up the mountain. For two miles, our hike was flat. And then, bam, we started going up. The way up was steep and at times we scrambled up rocks and across small streams. The kids loved it. Dexter loved it. Tim and I loved it. 

Starting the hike. That's Camps Bay, another Cape Town neighborhood, at the water's edge.

This is the flat part. 

Taking a quick break on our climb up.

We passed other hikers along the way and would have quick conversations with them. Some told us, "Oh, you're about an hour from the top." Others told us, "You have a long way to go." We realized that hiking perceptions are all relative, and we'd take the more positive feedback to heart.

We talked the entire way up the mountain. We learned so much from Dexter. We learned that he was 34 years old, married with two girls, ages 9 and 6. Last fall, he and his wife made the difficult decision to send their daughters back to Zimbabwe to live with his mother. Dexter shared that education in Zimbabwe was better and he felt that Cape Town was unsafe for his children. He mentioned numerous times just how much he missed his daughters. He wouldn't be seeing them until December, when they were on a month-long school holiday and would return to Cape Town for that time. 

We also learned that, when Dexter arrived in Cape Town in 2011, he worked in food take-away. He worked in that industry for four years, and then became a truck driver. When truck driving became unsafe (by 2022) -- foreign truck drivers were getting shot at by South Africans -- he switched to driving for Uber.

He talked to us about his hopes for the future. Dexter told us that his ultimate goal was to move back home to Zimbabwe and start a chicken farm. He said chicken farms are very profitable there. Tim asked him what he would need to get the chicken farm going, and Dexter replied that he needed US $500. But it sounded like it would take him a while to get to the $500. Dexter also mentioned that he was considering heading to Canada or Poland to drive trucks. He told us those countries are known for being safe for truck drivers and the pay is good.

Dexter asked us a bunch of questions about our life in the U.S. We talked for a bit about the upcoming November elections and about quality of life in America.

Finally, after a couple hours, we made it to the top of Table Mountain. We summited at an area called the Diving Boards – literally stones jutting out from the mountain. We clamored onto one of the Diving Boards to take a photo…and quickly got ourselves back onto the trail.

Posing for a photo on the diving board. (Eek!)

Still on the diving board.

Yet another view of us on the diving board.

Dexter was elated to have finally hiked Table Mountain, and the rest of us were a). so excited to have done the hike; and b). shared the experience with him. He said to us, “Guys! You changed my life today!” And we said to him, “Dexter, we wouldn’t be here without you!” Because, after all, he was the one who encouraged us all to do the hike. 

We took a short snack break at the top. Taylor and Wyatt introduced Dexter to Jolly Ranchers and Starbursts, both of which he really enjoyed.

We're now off the diving board, yet still on top of Table Mountain. Time for a selfie!

Starting the hike down the mountain.

Family photo halfway down.

Yay! We made it back to the flat part!

It took us another couple hours to climb down and hike back to Dexter’s car. We were so, so tired by the end – but the best kind of tired you can be.

A view of Cape Town from the end of our hike. That's Dexter's car on the right. ;)

It was about 4:30pm by the time we were in the car headed toward the city center. I did a quick google search to see what else we could see around town that evening and came up with the Castle of Good Hope. Dexter drove us there – and right next to the parking lot, there was a large homeless encampment. It was heartbreaking. It was more gutting than anything you could ever see in the States. The tents – if you could call them that – were barely upright. There was trash everywhere, just everywhere. 

We decided to bail on visiting the Castle of Good Hope (it was getting later, our legs were jelly) and Dexter said he’d take us back to our flat. Along the way, we asked him so many questions about homelessness in Cape Town – because it’s rampant. 

Dexter told us that the homeless people are all South Africans. His personal opinion is that they’re lazy (he spoke from his experience in the food take-away and trucking industries) and most of them are drug addicts. As we were driving away from the Castle of Good Hope, we came across a handful of individuals – clearly high – who were walking on the street median and at times approaching cars and yelling at the people inside.

Cape Town does have a reputation as being unsafe, but it’s really only if you drive or walk around unawares and in the wrong areas. This is why, if you visit Cape Town,* use Uber drivers! Like Dexter said, he knows every inch of the city. He knows where it’s safe to drive and where it’s not.

We asked Dexter if he ever had a bad experience driving for Uber. He said yes, that twice he had been robbed while driving. He tries to scope out his Uber customers as much as he can before they get in the car. But he also said that sometimes, he needs the money, and so he’ll drive people anywhere, even to the unsafe areas. 

Dexter dropped us off at our flat and we made plans to see him the following morning for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope. 

We took showers and made our way back to the V&A Waterfront for dinner. Over dinner, we talked nonstop about Dexter. He made a huge impact on us up to and down from Table Mountain. We learned a TON from him – and we were all very excited to see him the following day.

*If you ever visit Cape Town, please ask Dexter to be your driver! We have all of his contact info.