On the way back to the car we saw our first Dassies or Rock Rabbits. An unusual animal and not a rabbit; it is actually most closely related to the Dugong. Then after another stop for fish and chips for lunch we arrived in Hermanus to see the whales. Unfortunately the only ones we could see were about 1 km off the coast. The ones we saw in Cape Town were closer and more numerous. Over the course of this week we have seen scores of whales all along the coast, sometimes further out, other times just beyond the surf line.On Tuesday we drove some 400km to Wilderness, a town right smack in the middle of the Garden route that we were to spend the week exploring with our marvellous hosts Peter and Cherie. It was a lovely fine day as we crossed the wheat fields of the Southern Cape to get to Mossel Bay where we stopped briefly to visit the Bartholomew Diaz Museum and see a replica of the boat that he sailed to there from Portugal in 1456.
The next day was wet and misty. Together with Cherie we were headed inside for the day in the Cango Caves near Oudshoorn. Normally they are reached by a spectacular mountain pass called the Outeniqua Pass, but today we could see no further than 20m ahead in the cloud and mist. We arrived at the caves in the pouring rain and elected to do the Adventure Tour through the caves. This was a 2.5hr guided walk through the vast caves crawling through passages just 35cm high on our stomachs and then wriggling up the devil's chimney, a narrow (very narrow) tube going vertically up to another set of caves.
How we got up I don't know, but we managed to finish the tour with only one casualty - a broken camera. Some of the caverns were truly spectactular with beautiful stalagmites and limestone formations. There were only six of us in our group which was very enjoyable as in the peak season they can have 40 or 50 in a group.On Thursday we drove further along the coast to Knysna and its lovely lagoons. We had a lazy lunch at the Knysna Oyster Company. Beautiful fish and oysters washed down with the local Mitchells beer. After lunch we drove up to the viewpoint overlooking Knysna Heads where the waters of the lagoon enter the sea.
Dramatic cliffs and rough water.Friday saw us driving to Plettenberg Bay for another busy day. We drove to Robberg Peninsular which is a beautiful nature reserve defining the western side of 'Plett' Bay and did a short circular walk along the cliff tops.
We spotted whales cavorting in the surf. It was a perfect day with hardly any wind at all. Then later that afternoon we drove out of Plett to the Buffalo Hills Safari Game Park. Friends of Peter and Cherie own the reserve and their ranger Jacques drove us around the reserve for several hours as we spotted wilderbeest, springbok, eland, zebra, giant tortoises and giraffes. There had been a problem with the giraffes as one of their number had been captured to be transported to another reserve. It was tranquillised and blindfolded for the road trip but unfortunately escaped from the truck and headed up into the bush still with its blindfold on.We spent some time looking for it but alas we could not spot it.
At the end of the drive we drove up to a lovely viewpoint overlooking the safari park and had a drink.
After the safari we did some tasting of a local spirit called mampoer which is a kind of distilled alchol infused with different fruits or berries. We tried peach, strawberry and chilli! They were strong. The owners of Buffalo Hills had invited us to join them and 4 other guests for a braai dinner and around a blazing campfire we sipped wine and chatted until the meat was cooked. There was kudu (venison), grilled lambs livers, and succulent chicken. The party went on until the wee small hours of the morning.Then it was time to leave the Garden Route and head to Wendy's home town of Port Elizabeth. We passed the highest Bungy jump in the world at 219m over a river. On the Saturday night some 20 old friends of Wendy met up at an excellent restaurant for a great meal and the next day we met up with Wendy's sister and her husband, Penny and Basil at a braai that was hosted by Kathy and Dave at their lovely clifftop home near Port Elizabeth. From their deck we saw dozens of dolphins surfing in the waves below. Then as the sun set we drove for a couple of hours to Penny and Basil's beautiful beachside home in Boknes where we are staying for this week before heading up to Jo'burg at the end of the week.
