Trip date – Beginning of November 2023
Garden Route road trip is always part of the top 3 things to do in South Africa. Right alongside the Table Mountain tour and Kruger National Park Safari. It is the section of N2 that runs along the coast from Mossel Bay and goes on to Nature’s Valley. Dotted with stunning panoramic views and interesting bird & wildlife, this region is nature lover’s paradise.
We covered Garden Route during our road trip from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. After enjoying our drive on Whale Coast we came on to Garden Route to explore it’s treasures. We based ourselves in Wilderness and later in Plettenberg Bay before eventually surrendering our rental car at Port Elizabeth.
Wilderness is a small beach town less than 30 mins beyond George. It consists of an essential market complex or town center close to the beach in the valley and residential houses sprawled over the surrounding Outeniquea Mountains.
Touws River splits the town. Its branch, Serpentine River, connects it to Island Lake (It’s the first of the series of three big lakes in the area). The area around the lakes and the hills around the town are all part of Wilderness Nature Reserve. It is part of the sprawling Garden Route National Park. This park is maintained and secured by SAN Parks. Very limited infrastructure/construction is allowed here. Touws River feeds into the biodiversity of this nature reserve. It is a source for many outdoor activities here like kayaking and waterfall hiking – offcourse also birdwatching!
We were as usual very interested in the unique birds of Garden Route National Park. There are a couple of known hides along the shores of the three lakes. The best maintained hide is the one close to the popular Fairy Know hotel. The key to the hide is at their reception. It’s free.
You don’t really need to go on the popular hikes like Half Collared Kingfisher trail or Giant Kingfisher route if you are interested in birds. Most of these hikes are through dense forest. This makes it almost impossible to look up and walk (as usually birders do). Instead, opt for walking on the back roads of the town and around the lake. These circuit roads are quiet and serene and often offer great birding opportunities. Best spot we found was the road leading to, on and around the bridge over Touws River next to SAN Park’s Eb & Flow rest camp. We spent hours on end photographing birds here including the glamorous and exotic Green Turaco.
The Outeniquea Mountains create a mesmerizing backdrop to this little town. North of this range lies the Little Karoo, with its dry landscape. The lush green mountains have deep ravines where various rivers flow. From one hilltop lookout point, we could see Kaaimans river sculpting its way around a mountain. It gave the mountain a triangular peninsula shape, very similar to how the continent of Africa is shaped. This popular tourist spot is called Map of Africa.
Pro tip, after looking at the Map of Africa, just don’t directly drive back. Walk further from the parking lot. Turn onto the grassy area to the left. You will get the best views of the Indian Ocean and Wilderness beach. Paragliders use this cliff edge as launching point.
Plettenberg Bay is a high end tourist town famous for surfing waves and hosts many international championships. The town also often hits news due to unfortunate Shark attacks. Being alert and reading local reports and safety signs in the key.
Visiting the Raptor Rescue Center was an enlightening experience. Fifteen mins before Plettenberg, this privately run center is well maintained. It is working tirelessly towards bridging the gap between birds and humans. The center also rehabilitates wounded birds after their recovery. Unfortunately, the guided tour timing on the day of our visit did not coincide with our visit. Nevertheless, we took a round ourself admiring the birds. The place is a bit pricey, but hey the money is going to good cause 😊
Thirty minutes beyond Plettenberg is the largest free-flight aviary in the world – Birds of Eden. We had surely underestimated this place. It surprised us and became one of the most memorable spots during our road trip. The over head net is over 55 meters above the ground and covers approx. 6 acres of land.
A full-fledged indigenous forest grows under this net where around 200 species of birds roam/fly freely along with some herbivores. The forest is maintained as naturally as possible. Most birds can find food naturally. For others, there are staff members with buckets of seeds. This aviary is for low-flying birds and obviously not for high-flying birds of prey, understandably.
Birds of Eden was a fun experience. Walking on elevated boarded walkway, we had to look into the thick canopies, among the fallen dry leaves and along the streams to spot interesting birds. The place is so huge and trees are so dense, it gave us the sense of birding in the forest. It surely is a must-visit place. We did not go to the adjacent monkey land. It is a similar concept but with monkeys. I’m sure that would be good too.
Bloukrans Bridge connects the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape and also marks the end of the Garden Route. It also marks the beginning of Tsitsikama National Park, one of the most biodiverse forests to explore. Bloukrans Bridge is an arch bridge over the Bloukrans River. It is the spot for trying out the highest bungee jump. (No thanks! We just went there to see dangling people!)
Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth was our last stop on this epic coastal road trip from Cape Town. The beaches of Port Elizabeth are great for beach combing. Strong currents often deposit marine plants and animals on the beach. This city has some of the best beaches as well as a very big harbour which can accommodate huge ships.
We were in Port Elizabeth only for an evening. After surrendering our rental car, we decided to get a table at a restaurant on the Beach Rd. and enjoy our last sunset on the coast of South Africa with some sundowners and seafood. It was still around 4 pm and we had no idea what an amazing evening lay ahead.
While enjoying our time in the open air section, we just casually glanced over the Nelson Mandela Bay. We were surprised to see a huge pod of Short Beaked Common Dolphins. They were crossing the bay hardly 100 meters off the coast. It was just the beginning! One after the other in regular intervals, huge pods crossed the bay right in front of us. They were so close to us – just across the road. To add to this, we also spotted two dorsal fins of Humpback whales not very far in the bay. Excited gasps and clicking sounds of camera and a bucket load of memories. Perfect!
If we had another day, we would have liked to walk up the Shark Rock Pier, explore the town and visit the iconic lighthouse. Anyway, I can’t imagine a better spent evening than the one we had in PE. We were filled with gratitude. It was the best end to our South African coastal road-trip.
Afterthoughts and misses.
Garden Route was the tail end of our grand coastal road trip and exhaustion had started overpowering us. Our high curiosity levels conflicted with our low energy levels every day. We still had a long list of things we wanted to cover like
- Visit Oudtshoorn for ostrich farms and maybe check out Cango Caves.
- Hiking to Storms River suspension bridge, Tsitsikama National Park.
- Go around hiking on Robberg peninsula spotting Great Whites & Cape fur seals below.
- Buy a plate full of grilled mussels/oysters in Mossel Bay or Knysna.
**We did not have any sanctuaries and National Parks on our list for Garden Route because our next 2 weeks were going to be fun-filled and action-packed in Kruger National Park. YYAAYYii!!
We decided to take a step back and agreed not to push ourselves too much to cover the whole list. Heck, we didn’t even go up to the Plettenberg & Wilderness beach! We still had second half of our trip left, and needed all the energy we could save for it. Instead, we just chilled in our rental during our stay in Plettenberg. We sipped on some beers and store bought ready-to-drink cocktails. Letting time fly while sketching and reminiscing over the first half of our African Holiday was an ideal way to rest our traveling pants.
To read more about Garden Route, South Africa – Check these informative website :
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/partner-content-ultimate-road-trip-garden-route
https://www.sanparks.org/parks/garden-route
Hope this blog has inspired you to plan your trip to Garden Route, South Africa when (you are) on a break!.
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When on a Break! 