‘Angel’ spotted over Table Mountain

Agi Orfanos shared a mystical photo of  what looked like an angel hovering over Table Mountain on Saturday 14 November 2020.

The stunning photo was captioned: A MAGICAL MOMENT – Table Mountain Cape Town. I saw this happening but as I managed to turn on my cell phone perfection developed “Angel with crown over Table Mountain.”

In a recent post on Facebook Orfanos said the photo made at least 15000 likes in 3 days and it has been shared over and over again.

Given the many myths and legends that surround the mysterious Table Mountain, no wonder the photograph garnered so many reactions.

Read below some legends surrounding the mountain:

The Legend of the Watcher of the South

This myth has its origins from South African soil and tells the story of Qamata, a god responsible for creating the world. The mighty god was in the process of forming dry land when a sea dragon named Nkanyamba tried to stop him. This led to a struggle resulting in the Earth Goddess (Qamata’s mother) helping her son by making four giants to defend the four corners of the world. Once the giants died and enough land was formed, all of them were turned into stone to watch over the four points of the earth forever. The biggest and the strongest giant of the south was named Umlindi Wemingizimu or otherwise known as the Watcher of the South- Table Mountain.

The legend of Van Hunks and the devil 

The tale is about a retired pirate from Holland by the name of Van Hunks. He loved smoking his pipe, on the side of Table Mountain. One day, while sitting on his favorite spot, the Devil joined him and challenged him to a smoking contest.

Both Van Hunk and the Devil refused to give up, they puffed and puffed for days as clouds of smoke billowed up around them and rolled down over Table Mountain. The Devil realized that Van Hunk was winning. He was not pleased about this. The next moment both men mysteriously vanished leaving behind a huge cloud of smoke. The spot of the smoking contest was called Devil’s Peak.

For more on Table Mountain Myths and Legends click here.