Table Mountain has been watching over Cape Town for a very long time. When Portuguese navigator Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape in 1488, the sight of its flat-topped silhouette rising from the ocean moved his crew to tears. It still has that effect.

The mountain is more than a landmark. The Khoisan called it Camissa, "the sweet water," and with reason. Its sandstone bulk soaks up rainfall like a sponge, releasing it as artesian springs that fed the canals that built the city. More than 2,000 plant species grow on its slopes, many found nowhere else on earth.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours use Table Mountain as an anchor throughout Cape Town, tracing how its water shaped the city's streets and gardens. One tour even reveals how Jan Smuts hiked up to meet the British Royal family rather than take the cable car.