Today we headed off to PE to spend a couple of nights in the amazing Addo Elephant Park. Here you will see not just the usual Big Five, but the Big Seven, because technically the Addo Elephant National Park is also home to the the Southern Right and Great White Shark. The Park itself has one of […]
The charming Karoo village of Prince Albert, originally the site of an early farm, dates back to 1762. The fertile valley attracted other farmers, who built a Church there, and the settlement soon grew to become a thriving community. The Swartberg Pass, which links Prince Albert to Oudtshoorn, eventually opened the town up to the […]
The Swartberg Pass is probably top of the list in the history or Road building in South Africa. Now a national monument, it was Thomas Bain’s final and probably his best piece of road building. He built the pass between 1883 to 1886 with the help of some 250 convict labourers. He managed to keep […]
Are there any elephants in the Knysna Forests? After the Europeans arrived, the elephant population went in to steady decline. There may have been 400-500 here in the 1850s but a devastating fire in 1869 denuded much of the forest and killed many animals. With the added effects of the ivory trade and hunting, in […]
When you first set eyes on Knysna, it will take your breath away. Mind you, after the drive from Wilderness, you might be expecting to see something spectacular any time soon. The road is never far from the sea, with the majestic Outeniqua mountains to the North and a high ridge to the South and […]
The N2 runs right through Sedgefield, you won’t miss it because it must be the slowest stretch of dual carriageway along the whole of the Garden Route! And that is why Sedgefield calls itself the “Slow Town”. It is indeed a sleepy town but there are a few good restaurants along the edge of the […]
Wilderness is is only a short distance from George and your heart is guaranteed to miss a beat when, as you round the corner after the short winding climb up from the Kaaimans River, suddenly, stretched out in front of you, is the magnificent vista of Wilderness. To me, this epitomises the splendour of the […]
Oudsthoorn is a small town in the Klein Karoo just 65 km north of George. It is nothing special to look at but it happens to be the focal location for three special tourist activities, namely Meerkats, Ostriches and the Cango Caves. Perhaps the first thing to know about the town is how to pronounce […]
60 km further on from Heidelburg you will pass by the little town of Albertinia, known as the home of the Aloe. The indigenous Aloe Ferox, or Cape Aloe, grows prolifically in the area and the leaves are collected and drained for its bitter-tasting sap used in the health and skin care industries. This is […]
Heading back to the N2 from Witsand, almost the first town we come to is Heidelburg. Set on the banks of the Duiwenhoks River, with the Langeberg peaks forming a dramatic backdrop, we are now approximately 270 km to the East of Cape Town. The town dates back to 1855, after the German city of the […]