South Africa - Part 2 - Garden Route

From Mossel Bay it was onwards east once again. We were now entering a part of South Africa known as the Garden Route, where we were to stay, at various locations, for the next two weeks. The Garden Route got its name from the “Garden of Eden” because of the lushness of its vegetation. It is in fact a strip of land, much of which is designated as the Garden Route National Park (see below), between the ocean and mountains, and stretching from George (Western Cape) to Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape) – about 300km.

The first stop was in the Wilderness section, at the Ebb & Flow Rest Camp. A small camp on the Touw River, where our lovely stilted log cabin gave us a great view over Wilderness wetland. We were here for three nights and two full days, both of which were spent on local hikes. The first took us up a gorge and deep into the indigenous forest, and included a self-propelled pontoon to get us across the river at one point. The second guided us through the wetlands, along the rivers edge, before emerging onto Wilderness Beach, then back to the rest camp. Both were very enjoyable walks and provided lots of bird life to watch.

Knysna Lourie

Pontoon

Pontoon

Knysna Forest

Cape Boulboul

Green Snake

red knobbed coot

Red Bishop

Greater doubled collared Sunbird

The second stop was in the town of Knysna, and an apartment in its centre. The few days in Knysna were to be a bit different. We relaxed, watched TV (we had loads of channels to watch), did some shopping, wrote postcards and dined out every night. Each of the restaurants were good, but one stood out above the rest. The Anchorage on Grey Street, not only had great food and drink it had a very efficient and entertaining waiter called Benjamin. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Knysna.
www.anchoragerestaurant.co.za/

Knysna Head

Knysna Head

rock Pool

The third location was very different once again, and not quite what we were expecting (but in a good way). We were expecting one of a cluster of cabins in a bit of the Harkerville National Forest. What we got was an amazing cabin, in its own private forest section, perched on the edge of a valley with forest canopy views from our balcony, incredible.

Cabin in Harkerville National Forest

Because our forest did not have any hiking trails of its own, we looked further afield for our activities. We therefore ventured up into the mountain for our first hike. This was the Diepwalle State Forest, accessed by gravel road and high in the coastal mountain range. Diepwalle is also one of the few forests that the critically endangered Knysna Forest Elephant (see below) still lives, estimated to be only around 12 remaining (although the population is growing) but it was extremely unlikely that we would see any. However, we did see one, but only the skeleton in the local museum.
The forest offered three hikes, I, II, & III, or as we discovered on arrival black, white or red elephant trails. Before leaving home we had decided to do the easiest, hike I, however, due the change in designation we ended up on the most difficult. Not a problem, we are seasoned hikers and embraced the challenge. That was until it started to rain, now we were less keen, and when it started to pour, getting back to the car was then the only goal.

Forest

Forest Walk

Fungi

The weather on our next day looked much brighter, after the thunderstorm the night before. So we planned to take a boat trip up the Keurboom River and explore the Keurboom Nature Reserve. Unfortunately, when we arrived we found that the boat was not running that day, so we booked for the next. Instead, we had a look around Plettenberg Bay, did the coast walk, a bit of shopping, lunch, then back to the cabin.

Plettenberg Bay

The next day we reluctantly left our forest retreat and headed off further down the Garden Route. But before our next location, we had our boat trip, or maybe not, on arrival we found that the wind was too strong and the trip had been cancelled, not having a lot of luck with our organised activities.
Our next location was Storm River Mouth, part of the Tsitsikamma National Park and one of the combined parks forming the Garden Route National Park. The location lived up to its billing as one of the most beautiful parks in South Africa, right on the sea with thickly forested cliffs behind. What made it even better was the position of our cabin, right on the rocky shore with nothing to obscure our view of the sea (both from the balcony and our bedroom). This was particularly impressive on a first afternoon and evening, when a storm was brewing up.

Cabin

Storm River Mouth

Sunset at Storm River Mouth

On the morning of our first day we were up and out early, to avoid the crowds and to visit Storm River Mouth’s main attraction, its suspension bridge. The bridge crosses the river just before it enters the sea, quite a feat of engineering.
In the afternoon we ventured into the forest behind the cabin for a strenuous but very enjoyable hike.

Storm River Suspension Bridge

Storm River Suspension Bridge

Blue Duiker Trail

Flower

Tsitsikamma National Park waterfall trail

Day two saw us out of the cabin in good time, because we new we had quite a challenging hike ahead of us. This one would take us along the coast, partly on narrow forest trails and partly on the beach clambering over some serious boulders, to finally arrive at a waterfall. The result was some beautiful scenery and some aching limbs. Well worth it though.

Waterfall Trail

Waterfall Trail

Tsitsikama National Park

On our final day we took it a bit easier and had a walk in the Big Tree Forest. This indigenous forest is also part of the Garden Route National Park, and unsurprisingly contained many big old trees (one of which is estimated to be over 1500 years old).

the BIG tree

Finally, I forgot to say that we had planned to take a boat cruise up the Storm River, but couldn’t because the boat was in for repair. Well what a surprise, another activity that eludes us.

So that ended our time in the Garden Route and we headed northeast for a whole new adventure.

Personal Observations & Interesting Facts

Hayley Croc
The reason for adding this item now, is that on 10 November 2017 Hayley Croc suffered her first accident. She fell from a viewing platform down on to the rocks below. Thankfully she suffered no serious injury and was helped to safety by Anne. Hayley Croc has been travelling with us since the beginning of 2016 and has never suffered any mishap until now. Although shocked from the fall she insisted on continuing to travel with us, and we were pleased to oblige. For those that don’t know, Hayley Croc is a mascot that travels with is. Our good friend Hayley, who manages the Croc shop in Brighton, gave us Hayley Croc. As she couldn’t travel with us, she said it would be the next best thing. What we try and do is take a photo of Hayley Croc at special places on our travels and then send them to Hayley. She in turn posts the photos on an Instagram so the world can follow Hayley Croc travels.

Hayley Croc

Hayley Croc

Garden Route National Park
At one time a large track of land along the coast and up into the mountains, of what is now Western and Eastern Cape, was thick forest. With the arrival of Europeans, and around the 18th century, this all started to change. Extensive logging for timber to satisfy the industrial revolution going on in Europe decimated much of the forest and with it a lot of the wildlife. This continued in to the 20th century and was made worse by the farming and urbanisation that followed the forest destruction. Fortunately, logging did stop before all was lost and today there are still large areas of indigenous forest remaining. These forests are now protected by a number of national parks, state parks and forest reserves, all combining to form the Garden Route National Park.

Knysna Forest Elephant
The Knysna Forest Elephant is the same species as the Savannah Elephant but has adapted over time to be better suited to its forest environment. Therefore it more closely resembles the Forest Elephant of Central Africa. It lives in what is left of the protected indigenous coastal forests of the Western and Eastern Cape. Back in 1876, its numbers were estimated to be several hundred, but by 1908 this had dropped to between 20 and 30, the result of ivory hunters. By the 1970’s, when their protection was taken seriously, only around 11 remained. An experimental introduction of 3 Savannah Elephant from Kruger failed, so extinction looked like the most likely outcome. However, detailed studies using modern DNA technology and camera traps now believe the population is slowly recovering. The latest population estimate is at least 5 females, 1 male and several calves, circa 12, an improvement but still critically endangered.

Skeleton of Knysna Elephant