After a few nights in the winelands, we got in our car and drove about 5 hours to our next destination - a town called Knysna ("Nye-sna", silent K) in what is known as the Garden Route. The Garden Route is, as you would expect, very lush and green. It has a Mediterranean oceanic climate with mild to warm summers and mild to cool winters. It actually has the mildest climate in SA and is the second mildest climate in the world after Hawaii (according to the Guiness Book of World Records). It rains year-round (mostly at night, luckily enough), which keeps the area perennially green. Thus, the "garden"! As you drive through you see lagoons and lakes and forests as well as the sea coast popping in and out. It's really beautiful.
We actually stayed on the little island of Thesen ("Teh-sin"), which is in the lagoon harbor of Knysna. Here's a map of the area so you can get an idea of the geography:
Thesen is the little island on the top right inside the harbor. The whole lagoon harbor is part of Knysna, and can you see where the land comes together and almost touches again before opening up to the Indian Ocean? Those are giant sandstone cliffs called "The Heads" that protect the inner lagoon. It's amazing actually, the water in the lagoon harbor is as still as glass and once you go through the Heads and out into the ocean the waves are HUGE!
Thesen is a quaint little spot, there are many artists in residence and it reminds me of the community of Seaside, FL, except all of the homes back up to the island waterways. They do allow cars on the island, but mostly you see people walking around or on bicycles. All of the houses have small docks that sit on the canal, and you see neighbors driving their boats back and forth to visit friends or head out into the lagoon.
We stayed at a place called the Turbine Hotel, so named because it used to be the power station for the island. The old machinery that was used in the power station has been brightly painted and restored and is now almost used like modern art throughout the hotel.
What it used to look like before the renovation:
Now:
Walking up to the Turbine:
The front door with a Christmas wreath:
Part of the front lobby:
This is the view from standing by the pool in the back looking up - our room was the first balcony on the right side. Our balcony looked out onto the water canals of the island:
From the balcony of our room:
Our first afternoon there we walked from our hotel down to the waterfront and found a restaurant with a great patio to watch the boats go by and sun go down. This is the place that was playing Texas hill country music, which still makes me laugh. We loved hearing it!
Kynsa is known for their oysters, they have an oyster festival every winter (July). I'm not normally one to order oysters, but figured I had to try it if they are the local specialty! They came out with vodka relish, which was delicious:
They weren't half bad!
These signs were all along the waterfront - we laughed at every single one of them. They were the most illustrative warning signs I have ever seen! Do you know what can happened to you if you get too close to the water?!?!
"Don't jump and hang on to your dog, be sure to let go of him first!"
"Wives, don't push your husbands into the water, at least not when anyone is around."
"Please don't roll yourself into the water!"
"Dads, don't be idiots when taking pictures of your family. Make them back up, not you!"
"Don't clearly push someone into the water, make it look like an accident instead."
We took a speed boat the next day through the harbor and out through the Heads into the Indian Ocean. This is a boat with a very powerful engine, it has to be to maneuver through the powerful waves and not get tossed about. You really feel the power of the ocean out there!
I didn't take my camera out on the boat because it was too wet, but I really wish I had been able to capture some pictures. Looking at the Heads from the open ocean was like something from the "Princess Bride". They were just so massive rising out of the water. The ocean cuts in and out of the rocks, sometimes leaving cavernous holes in the sides of the cliffs. Big, white water birds soaring through the openings just looked like tiny little specks compared to the scale of the cliffs. While we were out there we saw a couple of sleeping seals in the water, they are easy to spot because when they snooze they hold one flipper out of the water for warmth. Kind of like this:
Stephen in front of our favorite local breakfast place, "ile de pain":
One day we drove to the closest point to the Heads we could find and hiked out from there (as much as you can hike in flip flops):
Looking way out to the Heads:
London!
This purple flower is the African lily - it's native to SA and was blooming absolutely everywhere:
Cool hotel facing the harbor and the Heads:
Enjoying a glass of wine by the fire that night:
Sitting by the fire we met this British family - 3 generations who have been coming to Knysna for about 20 years. They had just come in from being on a boat all day and told us stories of bringing their kids there every year for decades. What a wonderful family vacation! Brits - I am so jealous of their central proximity to so many places! SA is a long flight from London, but not NEARLY as long as it is from the States! Not to mention more expensive.
When we left Knysna we continued driving through the Garden Route and crossed over the Bloukrans Bridge which boasts the world's highest bridge bungee jump. The bridge is 700 feet above the Bloukrans River. (There is a red vehicle at the end of this bridge which gives you some sense of scale.)
We didn't do it, I have no desire to bungee jump! Watch this video, it's just craziness:
From there we continued driving and stopped at the Storms River in Tsitsikamma National Park. The mouth of the river opens to the ocean and it's a pretty spectacular locale.
People swimming in the water - there's a small dock you can swim out to:
Hello.
The mouth of the river is famous for the suspension bridges. This website is pretty cool because it gives you a 360 degree view of what it's like to stand on one of the bridges!
Shoot, I forget what this little animal is called! We saw a mama and two babies resting under the rocks (update - it's a Dassie! Thanks, Candice!):
One little baby ventured out on its own:
There are a lot of tree farms in this part of South Africa, which make for very organized forests:
Pretty building in a little beach village:
There's something about road trips that makes you want to pull over and see things you might otherwise not see. Like the world's biggest ball of yarn or something. We didn't see a big ball of yarn, but on our map there was something labeled as "Big Tree" ("Groot Boom"). Big tree? Well we should stop and see it!
The tree isn't so much wide as it is tall (although its circumference is 30 feet) - I didn't get a good picture of the canopy! I stole this from the web:
The tree is estimated to be between 600-800 years old. That's an old tree!
That night we drove into Port Elizabeth where we didn't do much except for have dinner and spend one night in a hotel, and get rid of our rental car. The next day we had a driver coming to pick us up and take us to Gorah Elephant Camp for the safari! I truly had no concept of what this was going to be like, which is almost better because that way everything is a surprise.
