Scenes from South Africa’s Garden Route

Knysna Lagoon

Me at the Knysna Heads

Sean peering around the corner of the Knysna Heads

Reds and blues

Yellow flowers beneath an African sky

Red flower in Plett

Trying to dip a toe into Plettenberg Bay

Our second rope bridge of the trip at Storm's River Mouth in Tskitsitkamma National Park

African Lily in the rain in Tsitsitkamma National Park

More lillies

A Tale About Whales

When we realized that we were in South Africa during whale season, we tried to view whales the good budget backpacker way, we really did. In between visits to Wine Country and the Garden Route, we dropped down to the coast to visit Hermanus, a town known for its great land-based whale watching. The way the tourism brochures describe it, all you need to do is walk along the oceanfront route and whales will swim right up. This may be true, but not for us. It didn’t help matters that when we arrived in Hermanus, the weather was the coldest and rainiest during our entire month in South Africa.

View of ocean in Hermanus in the rain

The pounding rain made whale watching on our first day impossible, so we tried again the next morning. Slightly cranky from spending the night in a backpackers cottage that had no heat and was overrun by very loud nocturnal campers stowing away inside, we stood in the freezing cold, straining our eyes to try to spot something, anything. The winds whipped the ocean into a such a frenzy that whale watching turned out to be next to impossible. We did see a couple of whales way off in the distance, but it really isn’t that exciting standing in howling winds looking at a speck in the water. See right there? Is that a fin? One of us would say. No, maybe a tail? Who knows.

Wave watching instead of whale watching

When we ended up in Plettenberg Bay a couple of days later, we decided to shell out the money for a premium whale watching tour with Ocean Safaris. The premium tour means that the boat can get within 150 feet of the whales, but if the whales want to get closer, that’s their prerogative.

Within 10 minutes of setting out to sea, we spotted our first whale. Shortly thereafter, a group of frisky, playful whales decided our boat looked pretty interesting, and started swimming towards us.

That's a big whale...

That's a big lump...

Not only did the whales get close, but they swam around our boat. Along our boat. Under our boat. Lengthwise. Widthwise. At times, an entire whale was underneath our boat. I pondered whether this was a problem, but then decided that the ocean is rather deep after all.  There must be room for all of us.

They swam right under our boat.

Being so close to such an enormous mammal is a very cool experience. To get a sense of just how large a whale actually is, watch this whale swim underneath our boat:

Here it goes...

Going...

Going...

Still going...

Not done yet...

...going...

Gone!

Getting Schnookered in Franschoek

Franschoek is in the heart of South African wine country. It is an endlessly adorable town, surrounded by mountains on almost all sides, with a main street lined with shops and cafes.

Franschoek's main street

Of course, the main attraction is the wineries. As we learned while we were in Cape Town, South African wine is quite good, so we were looking forward to tasting some at the source. We had been wine tasting in the United States before, but no where as beautiful as Franschoek.

Our first winery was Vrede en Lust – roughly translated from Dutch into Peace and Passion. They sat us on our own section of their veranda to take us in the fabulous views, and brought us a variety of wines to taste. Our current lives are very tough, I know.

Our first winery - Vrede en Lust

We then had lunch at Dieu Dionne Winery, which also has a microbrewery. There, too, the views are amazing.

View from lunch at Dieu Dionne Winery

Dieu Dionne Winery vineyards

After lunch, we already had quite a buzz, but it was still early…so why not go to another tasting? We stopped by the Rickety Bridge Winery. At Vrede en Lust, they had given us 1 ounce samples, which was more than enough to taste the wines. At the Rickety Bridge, we practically got whole glasses. By the end, all the wines were tasting delicious.

When we arrived back at our guesthouse, I had trouble opening the front door. I assure you, this is from my natural inability to open locks, and had nothing to do with the amount of wine consumed. The owner came to open the door, and looked at us with amusement. She asked us where we were dining that night. When we told her that we were planning on going to Allora, an Italian restaurant recommended by the host at Rickety Bridge, she looked REALLY amused. Oh, right, Allora, she said, with a knowing smile. The restaurant where they pick you up and take you home! (This is true – they really do!) I am sure she thought we were three sheets to the wind…which, if I am being completely honest, was not entirely untrue.

The crazy part is that all of the tastings are free.  (Or, as my high school economics teacher Mr. Bender would say, there is no such thing as free, because in our tipsy state, we purchased two bottles).

The wines we purchased and consumed at Kruger - Vrede en Lust Syrah and Rickety Bridge Shiraz

Needless to say, we really enjoyed Franschoek. It is only about an hour and a half from Cape Town, and is a great place to spend a few days relaxing. We’ll definitely keep our eye out for South African wines in the future, particularly the reds.

Cape Point: the Animal Edition

Cape Point was our first experience with South African animals. We saw animals we had never seen in the wild before.  We saw penguins waddling around in Simon’s Town, who, by the way, are the most super cutest things ever.

We pulled over to photograph wild baboons on the side of the road playing under a sign warning us of their danger. We later learned that baboons are the nemesis of South Africans – they often break into people’s houses, eat their food, and wreck their house – but the baby baboons looked so playful and harmless.

On our way out of the Cape of Good Hope National Park, we saw an ostrich family walking along the road, doing what ostriches do: sticking their heads in the ground.

Scenes from Cape Point

One of the highlights of Cape Town is not in Cape Town itself, but on Cape Point, the peninsula that juts into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  I loved both of the day trips we spent exploring Cape Point.  The scenery on Cape Point is amazing: beaches, cliffs, mountains, wild flowers.

We hiked up to the lighthouse on Cape Point for amazing views, and stood at the southwestern-most point of Africa at the Cape of Good Hope.

I saw a guesthouse at which I want to stay if I am ever on Cape Point again.

Each day we visited, we ate lunch at a different farm and craft village, where we drank local wine, ate organic food, and soaked up the sunshine.  It was late August – the equivalent of late March at home – and spring was in the air.

All of this, not to mention all of the animals we saw…coming soon!