South Africa
2007 - 2/4
2007's big holiday was in South Africa - along the Garden Route from Kariega Lodge (near Kenton on Sea) to CapeTown. We've split the holiday into 4 pages so they'll load in quicker.
A very different view from this hotel window as you can see - much more water for a start! This hotel was more "conventional" as in we only had a room rather than a whole chalet. It was very nicely decorated with a strong nautical theme. we stayed at the Protea Hotel Knysna Quays.
Our hotel was right on the edge of the lagoon - easy to spot from our boat ride on the first day.
We were only in Knysna for a couple of days - the original idea was to break the journey between Kariega and Hermanus. I'm glad we decided to stay longer than one night as there was lots to do.
On day one we decided to go on an ecotour of Featherbed Nature Reserve so off we went by ferry to the headland. The approach was really pretty.
When we arrived we were driven to the top in a 4 wheel drive vehicle, admiring the views of the Knysna Estuary as we went along.
A quick stop off at a lookout point gave us a taster of what we would be able to see from the top.
Once we'd reached the top we were given a choice to either ride down in the 4 wheel drive or take a walk 2.2km back down - we chose to walk and we were really pleased that we had as the views were lovely.
As you can see, we walked through lots of bushes and trees - it was lovely and peaceful.
There were lots of wild flowers but many of them were the same as we'd seen in Kareiga so I'm only including the different ones here.
A little way down we scrambled along a rocky path to Needle Point to relish the views of the Knysna Heads - they were spectacular.
Which ever way you looked there was a wonderful view to enjoy - we could have stayed there for hours (as it was we were the last to leave but we'd cleared it with our guide first - it just meant we had less time to eat lunch at the base)
About half way down we were invited to walk down 122 steps to see some caves so off we went (Martin did remind us there would be 122 steps back up as well!)
There was a bit of wildlife to spot on the way down like our little gekko pal on the left and the little bird on the right.
Eventually we were back at sea level and walking alongside the beach.
We didn't see any sharks but Gary assured us that they do come into the lagoon / bay so we definitely won't be swimming here then.
One of the treats waiting for us at the bottom was lunch (delicious). Another was the fact that a baby Blue Duiker had been born only the day before. He was lovely. Blue Duiker are on the "at risk" list so this is part of Featherbed's conservation programme. The also have a couple of blue heron on their reserve as they are also endangered.
The one on the right is an adult!
Finally we had to leave this paradise and head back for the town. It's a lovely reserve and the walk was very enjoyable.
On the way back we spotted a few birds, the most exciting of which was an African Black Oystercatcher - another rare species.
Day 2 at Knysna and we decided to take ourselves off inland a bit to explore. This was the first time we'd been off by ourselves rather than with a guide - most unusual for us to spend so much time with guides but that's the type of holiday it had been so far.
Now would be an appropriate time to introduce Walter, our hire car for the holiday. He'd been having a relatively easy time of it so far just driving us from sirport to Kariega then Kariega to Knysna. He's a Mitsubishi Outlander.
Jonathon was shocked at some of the housing in SA. The photo on the left shows pretty good houses, right next to those on the right. We drove through a few villages to get to the Big Tree, Diepwalle Forest, Fern Valley etc. and didn't feel threatened at all. Despite not having much in the way of material things, the local people seemed cheerful and were helpful - Londoners could learn a lot!
Off we went into the hills. First stop was to admire the Big Tree (Edward VII Tree) and to enjoy a short forest walk in that area. We were grateful that Walter had 4WD as most of the roads we went on were unmade - good practice for Jonathon.
The bottom of the Big Tree is on the left, the top on the right - it was far too big to get in one photo!
Many of the trees along the walk were labelled and I took a few photos to show how different the bark etc can be.
Ironwood
Real Yellowwood
White Alder
White Pear
Stinkwood
From there we spotted a sign for a Tea Garden so off we went. What a treat. it was a co-operative run by the local community and Jonathon really enjoyed the milk cake that was still warm from the oven.
The insects in the next picture were crawling around on the road outside the tea room - they were quite horrible.
Off we went again - up and up, it seemed, getting bumpier and bumpier. We came across a sign for a lookout so we ventured onto the even bumpier road and travelled along until we got to the top - the views were well worth it.
It was a pity it was a cloudy day but we still spent quite a while up there enjoying the peace (no-one else anywhere to be seen) and the views. Jonathon had his "flower" lens with him so I spotted flowers / plants and he photographed them!
In the life of an Agapanthus, the left is how it starts and the right is how it ends up. There were none in flower to show you the middle bit!
The two pictures on the left were from the same plant.
We bounced down the road on the other side of the hill, admiring the wild flowers, the odd bush buck etc. as we went. When we got back to the main road, we decided to head for the Birds of Eden - a relatively new free flight bird sanctuary.
We had a great time trying to spot the birds - Jonathon had no trouble spotting a couple of the parrots as they seemed to take a fancy to him. Apologies for the fuzziness of the white parrot - I was laughing so much the camera was shaking.
The feeder had just been around so a lot of the birds were enjoying the banana and other fruit that he'd left around for them.
There was a particularly good water area within the sanctuary with a wide variety of birds in that area.
I particularly liked the bird on the left and the way he held his feathers up - very ornate.
The drive to Hermanus was really nice with plenty of lovely scenery to admire on the way. First stop Mossel Bay for lunch (main course only - pudding was our second stop at Swellendam)
The rescue boat was putting on a good show of how its water cannons work.
The views on the rest of the journey were spectacular with the mountains in the background and lush green fields in front. We didn't go on route 62 which is described as the Scenic Route. If it's even more scenic that the one we drove on then we'll have to come back to check it out.
