Time to go back to the coast! Most tourists stops in the nice Wilderness, but I stay in George and Sue’s place in Sedgefield, former colleagues and friends from Klem who hosted me in Kleimond! Friendly people from the generation of my Dad that had a great time as flight crew in the mid 70ies to the mid 90ies. As they said, back then, being a steward was like being in holidays all the time, now it’s is a real job with much shorter time off between the services. I was told the road from Oudthoorn to George is downhill, but after ca.10km by 300m altitude, it’s get up to 600 and then down again to 200m just before George! I take the Montagu pass, a nice downhill ride!
Knysa is the next popular stop on the Garden route, I however just make a detour to the Heads, a wonderful view point where the river meet the ocean, and continue to Plettenberg’s Bay.
Plett offers beautiful beaches, and nice hike in the Robberg Cape, where you can spot thousands of seals!
Seals in Robberg, Plettenberg ‘s Bay
It’s also a wonderful place for a skydiving tandem flight! Jumping out the plane is a big scary but then just enjoy the 30s free fall and the scenery on a quite pace once the parachute is opened! For R1850 (~$150 or ~130€), it is quiet cheaper than in western countries!
Short biking day to Nature’s Valley, a lovely place for hiking, beaches, surfing, or kayaking the river down to the sea:
Lagune in Nature’s Valley
That’s the end of the 5-days Otter trail, from which I just hike the last km.
Next and last place on the Garden Route is Storms Rivers, the main entrance to the Tsitsikamma National park, and the beginning of that Otter trail. A nice 3km hike to 50m high waterfalls! The cycling trail from Storm Rivers village to viewpoint on the river mouth is quite nice, but is a loop to come back. That viewpoint is the end of the hiking trail, which I take downhill, my bicycle on my shoulder. This suspension bridge trail offers a nice view of the river mouth:
Storm river mouth with bike on the suspension bridge trail
An unwanted side effect is that I skip the gate to the park and the R168 conservation fee! That suspension bridge trail offers impressive view to the gorge on the river mouth!
The main roads between Nature’s Valley and Storm Rivers goes on a few bridges over different valleys and rivers. The Bloukrans bridge, 216m over the eponymous river, hosts the highest bungee jump in the world, a must stop on that day! Quite scary to jump from the bridge, scarier than skydiving for my taste! The jump itself is amazing, but very short, only a few seconds:
Bungy Jump from Bloukrans Bridge