Cape Town in the early 1950s was a place where we grew up, and spent weekends rambling and scrambling over Table Mountain. My brother Adrian, a friend and I soon got to learn of the existence of quite a few caves in the Wynberg area, and decided to explore. The first time we entered Wynberg cave was a bit scary, mainly because we had no torches, and we were not properly equipped at all. Later that afternoon round the campfire, we discussed the possibilities of continuing with this – the answer was a definite YES.
First, we thought of getting hold of a light-weight, rust-proof aluminium ladder, but that was too expensive for us, so the only thing to do was make our own rope ladder.
We used two 50-foot hemp ropes, beautiful wooden rungs made by my brother, and the cement driveway to work on. It was hard work moving the rungs the length of the ropes, settling them in their marked positions and tying special knots to hold them firmly. At last it was finished. Besides the rope, we had waterproof torches and spare batteries, our normal climbing rope and a large ball of string – this was to help guide us the first time – we never wanted to go wandering down passages and find ourselves lost.
We were all members of the Mountain Club, and it wasn’t long before our friends got to hear of what we were up to. Soon we had a fair crowd who were very interested. Now we...
