Cape to Addo Safari, South Africa

Journey along South Africa’s Garden Route.

Wow, what an eclectic mix!! – After a quick goodbye to the volunteers at 52 Trill Road, we grabbed our backpacks (and the suitcase full of souveniers!...) and followed our guide Martin out to the bus. We hopped on excitedly and were surprised to find an American couple from Colorado who must have been in their late 60’s amongst us! After initial concern that we had booked onto the wrong tour we soon settled down and got chatting to Pat and Bill, a very sweet couple who entertained us along the trip and to a couple of down-to-earth, fun English guys, Sam & Tom who had also been volunteering in Cape Town and a girl from Brazil who was bravely travelling on her own around South Africa.

The drive was pretty spectacular, with baboons appearing at the roadside and fluorescent orange birds flitting through the bull rushes. Ostrich and Springbok roamed on free land and the mountains cast long shadows through Hermanus, the whale capital of SA.

We spotted whales from ‘Bientangs Cave’ which is a restaurant built into a sea cave. The sea was rough, and the weather was stormy but the food and the company was good.

We tasted beer at Birkenhead- Honey blonde and a chocolate & coffee stout were surprisingly amongst our favourites! We continued through Struisbaai to Cape Alughas - the southernmost point of Africa where the two oceans, Atlantic and Indian meet. The winds were strong as we strolled along the beach with Milo, the hostel-owners dog. We dipped our feet in the Indian Ocean before heading back to the hostel to warm-up in front of the fire and impatiently await our braai which was lovingly cooked by our fantastic tour guide Martin.

Up early for the hot water springs, we took to the road for a long drive through arid Karoo, taking the route 62 through Western Cape and on to Oudtshoorn for an adventure tour through the Cango caves.

After being stopped by police to check vehicle, Martin paid his fines and off we went along Route 62, the old trade route from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. Through the desert of Little Karoo and past the mountains, the sun was finally shining! It was an fantastic feeling cruising through such incredibly large landscapes, the weather would change with spectacular scenes around every corner for miles with no sign of civilisation.

We took a pit stop at Ronnie's sex shop. Bill didn’t look too impressed! But we ventured inside the painted white concrete building in the middle of nowhere where cactus grew outside. An Aladdin’s cave the interior was decorated with hundreds of hung up underwear and an old man with a long beard propped himself up against the bar. Ronnie himself said that it was once just a humble little farm shop selling local produce, but one day when he went to the beach his mates painted ‘sex’ after his name and from then on it was named ‘Ronnie’s Sex Shop’ It attracted tourists by the bus load! So he turned it into a pub and decorated it with anything and everything that he could find, including customers underwear! I couldn’t resist donating a pair of my own which were graciously received and hung on the whisky pumps. It just goes to prove that sex really does sell!

After all that excitement we stopped for a relaxing afternoon at Warmwaterberg natural hot springs for a soak in 31◦C pools surrounded by the mountains of Route 62 and the semi-arid desert of Karoo. Beautiful. Now THIS is South Africa! It’s hot and humid inland today and it’s so good to relax after working hard on project.

After a gorgeous lunch, we drove through Oudtshoorn, the Ostrich capital of the world. Such a beautiful drive, however nervous thoughts about tomorrow’s bungee jump were somewhat taking over! Not much time to think as it was time to jump off the bus and squeeze our way through the Cango Caves on an adventure tour!

We pulled ourselves through tiny gaps and slid along the slippery rock clinging to the stalactites for support! The guide warned us about spiders and bats but thankfully we didn’t see any although he did have fun jumping out on us! Great adventure!

Back at our lovely hostel ‘backpacker’s paradise’, we played pool and ate Ostrich steak which was so tender and delicious, healthy too with very low cholesterol. Long day, can’t wait for tomorrow!

Another early wake up today for the Cango Ostrich farm and wildlife ranch in Oudtshoorn. We hugged and fed the Ostrich, I was a bit worried about it because they are just so tall and powerful! Matt sat on the ostrich but I decided to have a ride on it! It was SO fast, possibly the most terrifying thing I have ever done! I held onto its neck in a sheer panic and had to straddle its skinny body and cling to the back of its wings while it ran away with me on its back! So scary! But so much fun! Matt fed a few of the Ostriches, they were pecking at his neck! Bizarre!

We headed over to Cango wildlife ranch this afternoon, really cool to see such interesting animals from all over Africa. The ranch was open and very natural, with minimal fencing only where very necessary. A lot of the birds nest at the ranch but were able to fly around in open skies. The big cats were in open air enclosures which we walked above on a treetop trail. Amazing to see them without wire fences in the way, the lazy Lions slept whilst the Tigers played and splashed each other in their enclosure, the leopards hung out in the trees so close to our walkway!

We were so lucky to be able to enter the Cheetah enclosure and stroke them, such incredible animals, and friendly too as they had been hand-reared. The two female Cheetahs acted as ambassadors for their species, by allowing tourists to stroke them and hang out in their enclosure they were helping to spread the message that we need to protect their species from poaching. The money we paid went directly and entirely to the conservation of these animals in the wild. We felt nervous to stroke them, but after a few minutes they just felt like over-sized domestic cats except for the power in their paws and the speed of their reactions! Their markings were incredible too. 

Hanging out with the Lemurs was fun! They jumped all over us and sat on our heads and played with our hair! Very cool, soft little jumping monkeys and very curious too! Was great to see and feel these animals up so close and personal!  

Now its onward through the garden route to lunch before we bungee!!

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After an adventurous couple of days, bungee jumping at Bloukrans and black-water tubing along Storms river in Tsitsikamma National Park, we arrived for a relaxing evening at Sundays river valley, the largest citrus fruit area in Southern Africa and a gorgeous place to stay on our way to Addo National Park.

Along the drive we passed little monkeys, springbok, cactus and lemon and orange trees! We had to drive slow and carefully because the road dust is harmful to the citrus trees. Driving past the Unifruit packing place we saw many local people packing fruit into crates, class A fruit to be exported with class B class sent all over South Africa and class C to the juicing factories. The area was abundant with gorgeous flowers and big trees adorned in large orange flowers – paradise for Pat and Bill!

Arriving at Sundays River Avoca River Cabins was like driving into paradise, beautiful lodges with stable doors and verandas surrounded with citrus trees, luxurious mud huts overlooking the river and the citrus valleys. We sat on the decking over the river chatting and watching the weaver birds make build their nests in the reeds for hours whilst our guide Martin and his family prepared a delicious dinner. After sunset, we sat on the veranda and chatted, taking in the incredible views and enjoying a delicious chutney chicken casserole and feta salad cooked by Martina, Martin’s younger sister. 

After dinner we sat outside around a fire and chatted to Martin’s family. They talked about bearing the 48° heat in February, and about Xhosa people and their way of life and how they tend to wear lots of clothes even in the heat. It was interesting to hear about their experiences and opinions on life in South Africa from an Afrikaans perspective. They talked about how education is the key to empowering the next generation to bring change to the country as they will hopefully have a better understanding of the economy and politics.

We are feeling so incredibly privileged to be here, it’s like a dream. As we fell to sleep in our luxurious en-suite cabin, we listened to the sounds of insects and frogs. Beautiful. Now this is South Africa.

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After an incredible Safari game drive through Addo National Park, we arrived at Jeffery's bay and checked in to our hostel, a beach hut right on J-bay beach. We watched the surfers, and took a long walk along the beach getting caught in the shallow waves and confusing currents. We ended up exploring the town and shopping at surf factory store outlets. We had a yummy curry dinner at the hostel and stayed up to play cards and drinking games with people we met there. Such good fun! 

Zip-lining through Tsitsikamma forest was brilliant! . With 8 Zip lines, increasing in speed and length, we

whizzed over waterfalls and flew past rocks and bushes. 

The Elephant sanctuary was so cool! We walked into the forest with the elephants as they held our hands with their trunks! My elephant Thanda which means love, sucked my fingers with her trunk in an attempt to hold my hand. Her trunk was warm and wet and rough and hairy on the outside and i could feel her breath on my hand! I lead her into the forest. There we stroked them and played with them until they bent down to let us on for a bare-back ride which was pretty incredible! We fed the elephants afterwards to show our appreciation for having a ride. Elephants are very clever, they are strong and powerful but seem so gentle and kind hearted too. 

The 3 elephants at the sanctuary were rescued from Kruger National park and Botswana as they had been injured or orphaned. Feeding them was fun, they took whole apples and butternuts with their trunks, popped it in their mouths and swallowed them hole! Amazing!

Tonight we stopped at Afrovibe hostel on Myoli beach. Gorgeous beach! We slid down the sand dunes, the wind was so strong, it whipped the sand up into our hair, our room overlooked the beach - how lucky are we to have such gorgeous views of the turquoise Indian ocean from our double en-suite at only £20 (equivalent) pp per night! The sunset was beautiful and dinner was great too. We added to the graffiti on the hostel walls and waited to play beer pong. All good fun! 

Matt and Sam were up first against Martin and another tour leader. They won because Martin had had far too many stroh rum! I was up to take on the winners, I played with Kieran, a hostel staff member and... we won!! He caught a lot but I sank 3 and the final one which was epic! Earned some serious respect from the spectators, but struggled to down my quarter pints!! Ahhh so much fun! Matt and the boys sank some Absinth shots and we stayed up chatting to fellow backpackers. Late night, but such good fun!

Up early today for a quick pit stop at a famous farmers market! Yum! German sausages, 10R pancakes, fresh squeezed orange juice and macaroons!! It's safe to say that we stuffed our faces and oh it was good!

We then hopped back on the bus and drove back towards Cape Town. 
We stopped along the way to go walking with Lions, an unexpected experience, but a truly incredible one that we will never forget!
We each had to take a long stick, as the Lions understood that the stick represented a boundary and meant we were safe. We walked through the national park with a couple of Lions, Mufasa and Layla who had been rescued and hand-reared as cubs. They are such majestic creatures and it was amazing to be so close to them, we stroked the female and walked alongside them both. Lions are very lazy, they sleep for over 20 hours a day, only getting up for food, drink and to stretch their legs! It was incredible to see Layla jumping up into the tree, they are so big, yet so agile, powerful and fast when they want to be.

What an incredible journey along South Africa's Garden Route, what a spectacular country!