Table Mountain National Park has quietly rolled out one of the better value deals in South African travel: the My Green Card, aimed at pensioners living in Cape Town. Pay R212 once and you get 12 entries across six of the park's best-loved sites. Used to the full, that's roughly R17.67 a visit — a fraction of the standard entrance fees.

The six participating sites read like a greatest-hits list of the Cape Peninsula. Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, with their dramatic coastal cliffs, normally cost South African visitors R110 to enter. Boulders Penguin Colony, home to the famous African penguin colony at Simon's Town, is R50. The other four — Oudekraal on the Atlantic seaboard, Silvermine, the Tokai Picnic Area and Newlands Forest Picnic Area — usually charge R44 for adults. Two or three trips to Cape Point alone would nearly cover the card's cost.

There's a generous family angle too. A Green Card covers entry for the holder plus up to five extra visitors, and those guests don't have to live in Cape Town — they just need a South African ID to qualify. So a cardholder can turn a weekday outing into a full family picnic at Oudekraal or a penguin-watching trip with friends, all on the same clipped entries.

Applying is straightforward but has a few quirks. The card is only for Cape Town residents, and applications are handled at the Tokai Plantation Office, open weekdays 08:00 to 15:45 with a lunch closure between 12:30 and 13:00. You'll need your South African ID, an ID-sized photo, and proof of address in your own name dated within the last three months. One detail that trips people up: the office is cash-free, so bring a bank card for the R212 payment.

The card runs for 12 months from purchase, and each visit gets clipped. Once the 12 entries are used up you can't buy a new card until the old one expires — though every adult in the same household over 18 can hold their own card, so households can effectively pool access. Worth knowing before planning a packed summer schedule around it.

For pensioners in the city who like getting outdoors regularly — morning walks in Newlands Forest, swims at Oudekraal, the walk up to the Cape Point lighthouse — this is a genuine bargain rather than a gimmick. And for travellers with older relatives in Cape Town, it's a nudge to plan a shared day out at Boulders or Cape Point while the warmer months last.

Story via Getaway South Africa.