Fine advice from the US National Park Service:
We have a lot of SA National Park in and around Cape Town. That’s a real privilege, but it’s also not all it’s cracked up to be. Go to a popular spot at peak time and you might as well be in the city. But take the above advice and go to a less crowded spot (or a crowded spot at a less crowded time) anywhere in the Table Mountain National Park, and you’re (potentially) asking for trouble.
e.g.
We’re all advised on websites and on the trails themselves to make sure that we’re not alone, but much like the Eskom situation, there shouldn’t have to be normalisation, acceptance and victim blaming with this sort of thing. More should be being done to prevent these problems from happening, rather than (just) us having to change our behaviour because the authorities can’t guarantee our safety and/or electricity supply.
For balance, can I also point out that this is an urban park problem. The chances of you being mugged in – for example – the Agulhas National Park, are pretty much zero, no matter how alone you are.
But on the down side: no big, flat mountain.