The Garden Route

Trip Start Jun 15, 2008

Trip End Sep 15, 2008

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Flag of South Africa Tsitsikamma National Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Friday, August 29, 2008

We spent 7 days travelling the Garden Route, i.e. the southern coast of Africa. We started in a place called Knysna which is a town built around a lagoon which has a narrow access to the sea (and lots of ship wrecks!). We did a boat trip around the lagoon and visited the local brewery, Mitchells. The beer has a shelf life of only 3 weeks so don't expect to see it for sale outside South Africa! It is a nice British-style beer and is popular in the area. We also did a guided hike around Kranshoek River mouth where the local flora and fauna were explained to us by our rasta guide!

Next stop was Storms River Mouth and the Tsitsikamma National Park, a large area of indigenous forest. We did a nice mountain bike ride and a treetop "canopy tour" that involved sliding along ziplines between trees. The highest point was 30m from the ground and the longest line was 91m

Elephant and baby

. It was quite exciting. We did another hike through the park along the coast to a waterfall.

The final stop on the Garden Route was Mossel Bay, the place where the Portugese first landed in the 15th century. A very nice town by the sea and a nearby game reserve provided an opportunity for a mini-safari, we saw elephants, rhinos, zebras, antelope and lions. The animals all looked very healthy and happy, the lions looked a bit bored! Probably becuase they had to be kept in a separate enclosure so they didn't eat the other animals! We also saw whales playing by the coast when we did a short coastal walk.

Back to Cape Town to finish off the "foreign" part of our trip!

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Garden route en 7 jours! Nous avons achete une passe d'autobus avec le BazBus ou tu peux t'arreter a pas mal n'importe quelle ville le long de la cote et rembarquer quand tu veux.

Nous sommes donc partis de Stellenbosh (paradis du vin... donc presqu'a regret) pour aller a Knizna. On a passe la premiere journee a aller faire de la randonnee avec un guide super proche de ses plantes et portant sa petite radio-portative pour nous faire ecouter du Bob Marley! Adieu la tranquilite... Superbe paysage par contre! Apres-midi de marche vers la marina ou nous sommes alles en balade en bateau pour le coucher de soleil.

Lendemain, marche dans la ville et jusqu'a une micro-brasserie dans un coin non-chic du quartier industriel

Jaws!

. Nous sommes repartis le soir meme vers l'est jusqu'a Storms River, un village plus que tranquille (Yes sir, enfin!!). Au programme le lendemain, velo de montagne le premier matin et ensuite descente d'arbres-en-arbres avec poulie et cable. Super! Deuxieme journee, marche le long de la cote dans un parc national (cette fois sans guide) avec pic-nic! Au retour, question de se rechauffer (j'ai quand meme garde ma tuque les trois soirs qu'on a dormi a Storms River), on a fait un saut dans le jacuzzi, nice:)

Depart le matin avec retour progressif vers Cape Town... Arret pour une nuit a Mossels Bay. Fin d'apres-midi a marcher une fois de plus le long de la cote... Lendemain, mini-safari ou nous etions les seuls (a part notre guide evidemment) dans le jeep. Vraiment interessant! Ca m'a permis d'apprendre pourquoi un petit oiseau suit constamment son rhinoceros... et autres! Depart en fin d'apres-midi pour Cape Town pour notre 4 dernieres nuits en Afrique.

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