After a month is Cape Town we were ready to explore further afield. When I lived in South Africa I loved the Eastern Cape. It has that African feel and we could get out into the bush and see some beautiful wildlife.
Our first stop would be Hermanus where we planned on doing some whale watching. Hermanus is famous for being the best place to do land based whale watching. We drove along the incredible coastal road hugging mountains on one side and the beautiful ocean on the other. As we pulled into Hermanus we saw a humpback whale breach and it was spectacular. We were so excited to see more. We booked ourselves onto a whale watching boat for the next day.
We were treated to the best whale watching, a mother and her calf Southern Right Whale followed our boat and played with each other in front of us. They even swam right under our boat and we got to see just how massive they really are.
Our next stop was the small town of Swellendam which is the third oldest town in South Africa. We had a booked a beautiful little cottage that was still under renovation and the paint was still drying when we arrived. The owner offered us one of his other rooms but we decided to stay in the cottage. Waking up with views of the Clock Peaks right outside of our front door was to good an opportunity to pass up. We spent the afternoon in the pool and having fun before having a Braai (BBQ) and then heading to bed. We found the biggest spider hiding behind a picture frame and I don’t think either of us slept much after that!
After leaving Swellendam our next destination that evening would be Mossel Bay. We didn’t plan on doing anything in Mossel Bay but we did plan to do our first game safari on the way. We stopped off at the Garden Route Game Safari and we had a great day just the two of us and our guide. Its not the biggest lodge but it was fun to have our first experience and spotting some of the bigger animals. After our game drive we then went to another lodge to have a couples massage in a beautiful safari tent in the middle of the bush. It was fantastic and we both still think its the best massage we’ve ever had. We could hear the wild animals and it was one of those experiences we will never forget.
There are so many things to do along the garden route that it would be impossible to do everything in a month. We gave it a good crack though and out next stop was Oudtshoorn. We wanted to visit the world famous Cango Caves. These are some of the best caves we have ever explored. You can choose between the heritage tour and the adventure tour. If you choose the adventure tour then you also do the heritage tour as the adventure tour takes you deeper into the caves and through some very narrow sections including the famous letter box.
After leaving the Cango caves we headed towards Knysna where we would spend a week relaxing and exploring the local area. We also wanted to spend some time in the Knysna forest where wild Elephants live. The truth is though that only one female elephant now lives in these forest and is that last truly wild elephant alive in South Africa. We did visit Knysna Elephant Park though. Now before you criticise us it is an eco tourism centre and here is a snippet about the park from an article we found “Before you jump to conclusions and assume that these wild animals are being kept in a park as amusement, let me say that this is not the case at all. The Knysna Elephant Park is, in fact, more of a home for orphaned elephants that have lost a mother through culling or have been rescued from zoos and other less desirable facilities.” - https://crushmag-online.com/the-knysna-elephant-park-ethical-eco-tourism/
Without places like Knysna Elephant Park these elephants that are often only living there temporarily wouldn’t be alive. We always try to visit places that appear to have a good purpose and meaning to what they do with animals. It isn’t always easy though. We had a fantastic time here and it was the first time both of us had been up close with these truly incredible animals. I sill can’t and wont ever understand why someone would shoot one of these creatures.
South Africa is blessed with some spectacular beaches. Many of the best in the country can be found along the route from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. You can drive around a coastal road and be hit by the view of another incredible beach that could easily get into the list of the best beaches of the world if it wasn’t for the cold Atlantic waters.
The bonus of heading East towards Port Elizabeth though is that once you get past Cape Agulhas the official dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans the water starts to get warmer.
After spending a week relaxing in Knysna we travelled the relatively short distance to Plettenberg Bay. We spent the day chugging along down the river on a little motor boat that we hired. It was a beautiful day out and we got to see so much from a different perspective.
The next day we had a tree top canopy tour planned in the Tsitsikamma forest. Tsitsikamma National Park is a beautiful mixture of indigenous forest and coastal areas. Looking back now we would have loved to have spent more time exploring this part of the country. The canopy tour was fantastic! zip lining through the forest and the highlight was at the end when we found a little chameleon.
As our journey continued we eventually arrived in Port Elizabeth the furthest east we would be heading on this trip. We planned to spend most of our time in Addo Elephant National Park. Addo is the third largest national park in South Africa and is home to many different species of wild life. As you can guess from the title though it is the Elephants that we have come to see. It is home to more than 600 Elephants and we had the best time watching these giants from our car. The great thing about Addo is that you can literally stay all day once you have paid to get in and the tickets are pretty cheap. We loved watching how the elephants interacted with each other and the noises they made would make the grow vibrate. Because of the size of Addo and also its location it covers 5 out of 7 of Africas major vegetation zones. It is also the only place in the world that you can find all 7 of Africas big 7 in their natural habitats (elephant, rhinoceros, lion, buffalo, leopard, whale and great white shark). We loved spending our time in Addo so much that we actually extended our stay in PE to get another day in the park.
Our time in South Africa was drawing to an end and we needed to head back towards Cape Town. We did the entire 900+KM back with just one 2 night break in George. We explored the surrounding mountain roads in George the seven passes mountain road was misty when we drove through and baboons were stalking our car it was very eerie and we had a great day before driving the final distance back to Cape Town.
Hannah asked me this question the other night. “If you could only ever travel to one country again where would it be?” We’ve been lucky enough to see some incredible places but if I had to choose one place in the world to only ever travel to again then it would be South Africa. There is a very good reason for that as well. If I could only visit one place again then it would have to have beautiful mountains, fantastic quiet empty beaches, wildlife, good food, culture, and a whole lot more. South Africa ticks all of those boxes, it really captures you and never lets you go again.
