There is an area in South
Africa called the Garden Route that parallels the coast. Over the fall break I was
fortunate enough to be able to explore it with a friend.
Day one was straight travel.
On the bus. All day. In the rain.
Day two we caught a ride
with two Frenchies and went to the Storms River National Park and hiked on some
beautiful mountains right on the coast.
The hostel was in a one-horse town (though its one restaurant was Elvis
themed...) so we hung out at the hostel in front of the fire met two Canadian
and two Dutch girls.
Day three, we get Rocky
Road, a hostel run by, you guessed it, Rocky. This guy was so cool. He was a
businessman in Joburg and then decided to move to the middle of nowhere and
open this hostel. He mostly houses volunteers who work in the nearby
township. He took us to this area
called Natures Valley, there were maybe 20 people on the beach and he called it
crowded. We decided to go on this tail which was so beautiful, up over a
mountain to a lagoon then over rocks back to the beach. We didn't see a soul.
That night we hung out at the hostel in front of the fire with this old
Afrikaner woman listening to her stories.
Day four. We went to
Monkeyland and Birds of Eden. Cheesy, but it had to be done. The girl who let
us into the entrance upon learning that we were American asked me if I knew
Justin Beiber and Beyonce, I said oh yeah, they are my neighbors! She laughed
and I thought we had an understanding. After looking a ton of birds and
monkeys, which was really cool, this girl saw us eating our pbj’s and came up
and said she would really like to know more about Justin Beiber and Beyonce. Like
are they nice? I tried to but she didn't seem to believe that we had never met
them or anyone famous!
Day five. We get to this
little stink hole city called Kynsna. After looking around town we were sitting
in our room hanging out and this couple came and told us that the beds (we were
all in the same room) had bed bugs. The guy showed us his arms and legs and
they were COVERED in bites. So we skedaddled out of there!
Day six. Woke up early for
surfing lessons from a local. Ye-haw.
Day seven. In the town of
Wilderness we caught a ride up to this place called Map of Africa where all the
paragliders take off. Unfortunately the wind was too strong for us to go, so we
hiked a trail to a waterfall. Back in town and hung out around the fire at the
hostel. We met a lot of cool people, lots of Germans (I’d bet I have met more
Germans than South Africans here...
Day eight. We caught a ride
to the town of Oudtshoorn where there was a huge Afrikaans festival. We
wandered around with Carrie Underwood karaoke in the background (I realize she
is not an Afrikaner but I just accepted it).
Day nine, the last, was the
best. We signed up to do this bike ride, unaware that it was did going to be up
a treacherous mountain pass, dirt roads, no rails, fierce winds, poisonous
snakes and baboons. It took us an hour and a half to drive up to the top. So we
start this journey down and it is so fun. You could really fly. On our way down
we stopped at the Cango Caves, which were unreal. Along the way there were a
lot of run down houses, few and
far between but the area, as so many in SA are, was really poor. There were
occasional groups of kids that would stand in the road and when they saw us
coming they would get really excited and stick their hands out. I wasn't sure
what they wanted but then realized that they wanted drive-by high fives. And
bless em I have never seen anyone so excited for a high five. We continued to an ostrich farm (what
this area, Outdshoorn is known for) where I had one of the best sandwiches of
my life. Ostrich meat is durn good. We got to see them and watch other tourists
ride them. Which was actually quite sad. They put a bag over the ostrich’s head
so it thinks it is safe and calms down, the person gets on, they take the bag
off and the animal freaks and takes off running. So back on the road we are pedaling
along and a big storm blew in. It started pouring rain and the winds were
really strong. Eventually it passed and this lovely rainbow popped out. We finally
got back into town and stopped at this chocolate shop. The woman who ran the
shop (in the back of her house) was really neat, she did her training in
Belgium and then moved back to SA to open her shop. And the chocolate was
amazing, wasabi, lemon, lavender, black pepper cherry. Mmm. So we finally got
out of there and were riding back to the hostel, again in the rain. At this
point we had ridden about 35 miles and were pretty tired. As we were passing
back through the festival people were all out with umbrellas and holding boxes
over grills to keep them dry. The rain let up a bit and this ragtag band walked
out in front of us, they were playing this upbeat music on all horns and
trumpets.
Day ten. We were on the bus
for most of the day and glad to be home when we finally arrived.
 |
Tsitsikamma National Park
|
 |
| Storms River Mouth |
 |
| Friends on the trail |
 |
| South African national flower, the petals look like feathers. |
 |
| View from the top at Natures Valley |
 |
| More hiking at Natures Valley |
 |
| Monkeyland |
 |
| Birds of Eden |
 |
| View from the top (pre-cycle). |
 |
| Part of the treacherous ride down. |
 |
| Super-cycle-rs. |
 |
| Cango Caves |
 |
| Ostrich about to peck my lens! We were warned to protect anything shiny. |
 |
| Feeding time |
 |
| Reminders of the promise |
 |
| Driving home |
Overall it was an awesome
trip. I am incredibly blessed.
