In the year 1799, long before AWOL Tours was founded, during the first British occupation there was an American sailor named Joshua Penny who literally went AWOL (Absent Without Leave) for nearly 14 months. He served under the command of the British Royal Navy on board the HMS Sceptre. After being disillusioned by his time in service he found a creative way to desert his commanders. Deserting meant a sure death in that time and his head was called for in all of Cape Town. He decided he had to flee – and decided to do it onto Table Mountain!
After climbing for four days Penny found a cave as a secure hiding place. There were plenty of wild animals on Table Mountain in that time with healthy appetites. But Penny found ways to keep them at bay. He managed to stay AWOL on Table Mountain for almost a year, living of dassies (rock hyrax), small antelope, picked nuts and roots, and even brewed herbal beers. In his book (The Life and Adventures of Joshua Penny) he writes about the howls and growls by wild beasts at night. But he was clearly not as bothered by the beasts as he was by thought falling in the hands of the British Royal Navy.
After surviving on the mountain for nearly a year, Joshua Penny had noticed that one day there weren’t any warships floating in Table Bay. This was the time to make his re-appearance into Cape Town. Coming down Table Mountain, looking like the Capetonian version of Robinson Crusoe, he asked a merchant ship for a job on board. Even looking more like a beast than a man, he got the job, and was rewarded his ticket out of the Cape of Good Hope. He then discovered that the Sceptre had sunk in a terrible storm in Table Bay 14 months ago, so had he known it Penny would have been a free man all that time!
AWOL Tours has been inspired by Joshua Penny’s unique experience on Table Mountain and has re-created his journey with a 1-day, 3-day, or 5-day hiking trail. We can assure the guests that their adventure will be enjoyed with a lot more luxuries than Joshua Penny had, but have the same unique back to nature experience. And we assure you: there won’t be any hungry wild animals this time!
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Written by Jeremy Schreiner