Garden route +

South Africa – May 2017

The best way to explore South Africa – if you don’t have the coins to splurge on a flying Safari – is by rental car. And the “Garden route” is the most iconic road trip there is. Technically, the Garden route only refers to the 190 km long stretch of the N2 between Storms River and Mossel Bay. However, many people start their journey in Cape Town or Port Elizabeth, so the name has become a synonym for the trip between the two cities. Tina and I started our extended two week Garden route road trip in Port Elizabeth after a couple of days in Johannesburg.

Arriving in Port Elizabeth, we pick up our light blue Toyota Corolla rental car. Remembering that people drive on the left side of the street here, I activate my turn signal and turn out of the parking lot to the right. Except that I didn’t actually activate the turn signal, but the windscreen wiper. This distracted me so much, that I almost entered the upcoming roundabout driving in the wrong direction. Fortunately, this is the only time we confuse the sides of the street – but definitely not the last time we use the windscreen wiper instead of the indicator and vice versa..

We stay in Port Elizabeth at an Airbnb close to the seaside for two nights. The first day we explore the empty beach (it’s winter and the Indian Ocean is way too cold to surf or swim) and the city centre and treat ourselves to dinner at Nando’s. The second day we visit the closeby Addo Elephant National Park where we do a self-driving Safari. After sunset we make our way back to the Airbnb trying to see how fast we can go on the deserted, potholed street. The next day we first head to the local Spar supermarket to buy the essential road trip snacks and then get breakfast at Wimpy.

Our next stop, surfer’s paradise Jeffreys Bay, is only an hour away. However, there are soo many pretty viewpoints, that you can’t do anything else but stop ever so often along the way. We stay at the beautiful Funky Town Hostel which we have all to ourselves – just like the whole town it seems. The next day we planned to visit the suspension bridge at Tsitsikama National Park. However, due to bad weather and off-season it’s closed. So we go on a little hike instead and picnic in the foggy forest. In the afternoon we head to Knysna, where we stay with some of my mom’s relatives who rent out their spare room. They cook delicious BBQ and Tina and Norbert watch a rugby match while Annemarie and I take the dog for a walk.

We explore Knysna and the surrounding area including Plettenberg Bay thoroughly and then head back on the N2. In George we leave the national road for a little detour to Oudtshoorn. We leave the lush, green coastal vegetation behind us and cross mountain passes into the dry and rocky valley where the ostrich capital is located. The big birds are partly the reason we’re here. But before we visit one of the farms in the afternoon, we first drive further north into the mountains and check out the famous Cango Caves. After an eventful day we drive back to the coast. The 90 km road from Oudtshoorn to Mossel Bay shows off the vast variety of sceneries South Africa has to offer.

My birthday night we spend at the Santos Expressway Lodge in an old-train-turned-hotel at the beach. Definitely one of the most unique accommodations I’ve ever stayed at. After a good night’s sleep in our berth and a breakfast with an amazing view, we prepare for the longest day of driving yet. The next overnight stop is Hermanus, 308 km away. But of course we once again stop countless times on the road to admire the incredible landscape, have lunch with a bunch of greedy geese and refill gas.

We only spend one night in Hermanus. Though it’s also located right at the sea like Mossel Bay, the rocky coastline of the Atlantic couldn’t be more different than the sandy beach at the Garden route. We go for a sunset walk, climb over rocks, eat delicious burgers and go to bed early. And then it’s already time for one of the last highlights: Stellenbosch. We’ve been looking forward to our visit in the wine region ever since we started planning this trip.

We take an Uber to Spier Wine Farm where we heard they offer tastings accompanied by chocolate. The lady at the reception tells us that they also have a Segway tour through the vineyard – with the last of the day starting in a couple of minutes. Of course we can’t say no to that and so after a quick introduction, we race through the vines with our guide Dylan. Maybe it’s the adrenaline that makes the wine taste even better, and leads to Tina buying 6(!) bottles of the local red wine. Quite tipsy, we take an Uber back to town and spontaneously decide to follow our drivers recommendation to have dinner at Tigers Milk pub. After a couple more drinks we walk 40 minutes back to the Bonne Esperance Guesthouse. Only to realize that we left Tina’s wine at the pub..

Read the the story about the last part of our road trip along False Bay to Cape Town on my blog too. Also, feel free to check out my story about going on Safari for the first time.