Garden Route

The Garden route is a scenic road (N2) along the South-Western Cape of South Africa lined between gorgeous green mountain side and rocky ocean cliffs. We began our drive in Tsitsikamma and ended in the sea-side village of Mossel Bay.

Tsitsikamma National Park:

Tsitsikamma is the “Place of sparkling water,” where 7 rivers flow through the Tsitsikamma Mountains into the Indian Ocean. The most notable being Storm’s River. There is a suspension bridge where you can view the water from the lush rocky gorge run into the foamy ocean. After the trip over the bridge we went through the woods….and up a mountain to the lookout point over the coastline. Apparently you can find otter along some of the trails, but that requires five days to complete, and that was just five too many. We did see rock daisies, which we compare to mutant size hamsters, but cute. Once the mountains were conquered we explored the tidal pools and its little inhabitants. The waves crash up onto the rocky shore and can be quite unpredictable as Jason found out with an involuntary salty bath. The next day we visited the beach at Nature’s Valley, which is another section of the National park. While on our four hour hike we spotted a couple southern right whales spyhopping out in the distance.

Plettenberg Bay:

We arrived in Plettenberg happy to find that we were not staying at a nudist colony, as the description in the “Coast to Coast” booklet mentions things like “private beach” and “clothing optional.” We spent our fully clothed day hiking the 9.5km Robberg Refuge peninsula trail. This was our favorite park hike since we saw several whales playing along the coast and a colony of cape fur seals swimming and sunbathing. It is here that we came to the realization that South African National Parks are no joke and defiantly not for the faint of heart or out of shape as you scale mountain sides and leap across ocean boulders.

Knysna & Oudtshoorn:

In the morning we headed out to Knysna, which we found to be somewhat of a dud after the spectacular national parks. Knysna was known for their seahorses in the bay but apparently the only remaining one is in an aquarium at the 34 South restaurant. We had a quick bite to eat and watched the South African Rugby team beat New Zealand All Blacks in a Tri-Nations game. We don’t know how we talked ourselves into this next part, but we made our way up to Oudtshoorn. This town had been known for its feather industry, but that has since gone under. The ostrich ranchers have now found creative ways to stay afloat by offering tours and bird rides, yes, you can ride an ostrich and that is just what we did. Before we saddled up, we learned that ostriches are the second fastest creature in the world reaching top speeds of 75 km/hr, second only to the cheetah. So this sounds like an even better reason to hop on these big dumb animals. Jason went first and Speedy the ostrich just wasn’t having it, and showed Jason to the ground in 2 seconds flat. With a bruised bum, Jason watched as I tried my luck. With some assistance from the “jockeys” I made it around but my dismount was not much more graceful.

Speedy may have won this time but we got the last laugh in the end.









Mossel Bay:

We spent our time in this laid back coastal town sleeping, drinking beer and relaxing on the beach. We did walk around the town a little and watched the surfers catch some waves at the point. We figured spectating was the best choice since the shore consisted of hard looking rocks. We were also still recovering from the wrath of Speedy.

Next stop, Hermanus, for up close whale watching and (look away parents) GREAT WHITE SHARK DIVING! MMWWAHHHHH!