Garden Route

We drove the Garden Route today from George to Port Elizabeth. we envisioned this to being very similar to the Great Ocean road in Australia but it wasn't actually like that very much. It was less coastal driving, but there were lots of pretty views along the way and many cool places to stop.

We checked out of our airbnb and hit the road. Our first stop was only 20 minutes away in a town called Wilderness. We went to a scenic spot called "Map of Africa". It was a bit difficult to find though. On the N2 highway from George to Knysna, once we got to Wilderness we took our first left by a gas station. Then we took that to a roundabout where we took another left. That took us up a hill and we traveled for about 3kms until we saw a sign that directed us left again towards "Map of Africa". That was a dirt road we traveled for a couple of kilometers and then you're there. It was really pretty; the idea is that where the river has cut through the rock it looks like you are looking at a map of Africa from the southern viewpoint. Here's a picture:

On our way back through town we stopped at a place called "Green shed coffee roasters" since our airbnb host told us they had great cakes there. I had a piece of cake which was delicious while Matt had a shake and we discussed our game plan for the rest of the day. It was a neat place if you get a chance to check it out.

From there we continued along the road into Knysna where we stopped at a viewpoint called "The heads'. It's where the Knysna River meets the sea and it's absolutely beautiful. Here are a few pictures:

Then we traveled on to Plattenberg Bay where we stopped at the Lookout Beach. It was a very wide beach and only a couple of other people on it enjoying the perfectly sunny day. We explored for a bit and dipped our toes into the Indian Ocean for the very first time (it was freezing). We also found several huge beached jellyfish which were cool to look at. One of them had lots of little conch-like things scurrying around and they appeared to be using the jellyfish as a sort of rock or anchor to keep them from getting swept away in the periodic waves. I'd never seen anything like that before.

The moment we first touched the Indian Ocean:

Weird looking jellyfish:

We relaxed in the sun on the beach for awhile until e got hungry and then we went to the restaurant directly on the beach, called The Lookout, which was delicious and beautiful setting. Matt had the fish fry and I had tomato herb soup with a toasted sandwich and everything was delicious. We even briefly saw some dolphins or something playing in the water as we were eating.

Our next stop was the Garden Route National Park in Tsitsikamma. We had to pay almost $15 for the two of us to enter the park and we didn't realize that beforehand so that was a surprise. But otherwise it was a very nice park. There was lots of great camping sites and little cabins to rent along the water.We went to the end of the road where we got out and did The Mouth Trail, which takes you to where the mouth of the Storm river. It was a pretty hike and about 1-hr round trip. It ends at a suspension bridge where you can cross over the mouth of the river which was pretty and there were lots of little dassies around. There were people also kayaking along the river which looked fun. There was also a place advertising scuba diving for only $45/dive which sounded awesome, but I don't know anything else about that.

That was our last main stop but we did stop at Jeffreys Bay briefly on the way to watch the surfers, as our airbnb host told us that was the best surfing in Southern Africa. Then we finished the drive to Port Elizabeth and checked into our airbnb, which is a super-cute cabin separate from the main house. They also have dogs so I got to play with them for a little bit; it feels like it's been so long since I've been able to play with a dog!

Tomorrow we fly to Kruger National Park (in the north eastern part of South Africa) and begin our first safari!! It will be 4 days/3 nights. I doubt I have wifi at all so I'm thinking I probably won't be able to blog for a few days. But I will definitely tell you all about it when I can. Hopefully we see the Big 5!