Friday, January 10th – Monday, January 13th, 2025
World Tour Days 69 – 72
The Garden Route is a stretch of coastland in South Africa that is popular for road trips. It hugs the east coast of the cape and has amazing coastal towns with lots of outdoor activities. We started with a 5 hour drive to Wilderness. There we ate our packed sandwiches on the Wilderness Beach and enjoyed walking the shoreline before getting back to driving. Our final destination for the next two nights was Plettenberg Bay.
In Plettenberg Bay our main activity was going to the Robberg Nature Reserve and doing the full loop hike they have. The hike was easy and gorgeous. We saw dolphins, seals, beaches, various colored rocks, and greenery. From the tops of different cliffs we could see the long stretches of beaches of Plettenberg Bay. The day ended with Nick jumping into the ocean at the local beach, and us getting homemade ice cream from Ice Palazzo which was some of the best gelato we’ve ever had.
The following day we made our way past the Garden Route and on to Addo where we’d be spending the next two nights. Along the way we stopped at Tsitsikamma National Park, to do the Waterfall section of the Otter Trail. The full trail is a multi day backpacking hike that is apparently hard to get permits for. The hike took us about 3 hours to complete and the weather was not very cooperative. It rained the entire hike and it had a lot of boulders/rocks to maneuver. The terrain was slippery and I fell down two times, collecting bruises as we went. The hike was along the coast and we could see the ocean 90% of the time. There were bridges we had to cross and large rocks we had to climb over to make it to the waterfall. The mist added to the vibe of the ocean hike.
In Addo we stayed with our friends Chloe and Alex glamping in a canvas tent. The tent was on stilts, making us feel like we were in a treehouse. It had a full kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, a large deck, a wood-fired hot tub, fireplace, and a hammock off the edge of the balcony which was perfect for stargazing. Our first evening we enjoyed a hot tub, card games, and dinner.
The next day we did a half day game drive in Addo Elephant National Park. We’ve seen lots of elephants on our safaris so far but this was the most special. There were hundreds of elephants, many of them coming close to the vehicles. Large herds of elephants were migrating from various areas to the water holes in the park. The herds included many babies, one was around 1 week old according to our guide as it was still a little fuzzy. We were lucky to watch two elephants breastfeeding their babies. One baby elephant even chased some birds away for fun. It was incredible watching the elephants socialize with each other for hours.
Other animals we saw included warthogs (with babies breastfeeding), kudu, red hart beast, and some birds. The safari included an amazing breakfast spread made by our guide’s wife. It included the best watermelon I have ever had. In the evening we laid out on the hammock and star gazed. Nick and I would be heading up to Drakensberg the following morning.