Our last stop of the day, accompanied by heavy rain, was George, the main hub of South Africa’s Garden Route in the Western Cape. Situated on a plateau at the foot of the Outeniqua Mountains, roughly halfway between Cape Town and Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), George is an...
Our next stop was the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George, part of the Transnet Heritage Foundation collection and one of the most interesting places to explore South Africa’s railway heritage. Housed in a historic locomotive shed dating back to 1932, the museum brings together an...
Our next stop was The Motorcycle Room in Knysna, a fascinating museum located on the top floor of The Parking Shed in Thesen Harbour Town on Thesen Island. It houses a private collection of around 150 motorcycles, ranging from classic road bikes and vintage enduros to motocross machines...
Bad weather followed us to Knysna, another scenic coastal town along the famous Garden Route. The town lies around an approximately 11-kilometre-long lagoon that opens into the Indian Ocean through two dramatic sandstone cliffs known as the Knysna Heads. Framed by the Outeniqua Mountains...
After a day of hiking, we finished with dinner on Central Beach in Plettenberg Bay, one of South Africa’s most beautiful coastal towns along the Garden Route in the Western Cape. Portuguese navigators originally named the bay Bahia Formosa (“Beautiful Bay”), a name that...
After our morning hike in Nature’s Valley, we continued along South Africa’s spectacular Garden Route, driving a few kilometres via Plettenberg Bay to Robberg Nature Reserve, a rugged, breathtaking coastal peninsula about 8 km south of town. Managed by CapeNature, Robberg (🎟️80 ZAR) is...
Our next stop was the tiny coastal village of Nature’s Valley, tucked away within the Tsitsikamma Section of the Garden Route National Park, between Plettenberg Bay and Storms River. Surrounded by the Tsitsikamma Mountains and the Groot River, this peaceful corner of the Western...
We continued our journey toward Cape Town, with the spectacular Bloukrans Bridge directly on our route. This monumental concrete arch bridge is widely celebrated as an engineering marvel and has become one of South Africa’s premier adventure destinations, so naturally, we had to stop and...
After visiting the Big Tree, we drove a few more kilometres to Tsitsikamma National Park (🎟️367 ZAR), Africa’s first marine national park, proclaimed in 1964. In 2009, it became part of the unified Garden Route National Park, alongside the Wilderness and Knysna protected areas. The name...
A 500-metre wooden boardwalk through the indigenous forest near Storms River led us to one of the area’s most famous natural landmarks: The Big Tree, an ancient Outeniqua yellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus), South Africa’s national tree. Located in the Tsitsikamma Forest along...