Tsitsikamma National Park
There are few things like getting on a plane in European cold wave and land, 12 hours later in the warm Cape Town, where these months the sun rises before six in the morning and the sunset does not arrive until 8 in the afternoon. All this, accompanied by a incredible temperature between 17 and 27 degrees , without the sticky tropical humidity, miles of unexplored beaches, exuberant vegetation, extensive arid plains, good wine, amazing nightlife, wild animals and infrastructures, services and hotels that have nothing to envy of the most advanced Europe.
It's the South African Garden Route , one of the unknown roadtrips and yet one of the most unmissable. And furthermore, with just one hour time difference.
The Garden Route runs through spectacular places in South Africa
CAPE TOWN
The Garden Route begins a few kilometers from the Cape of Good Hope , and the city to which it gives its name. Before you hit the road, you won't regret spending at least a couple of days and nights in this city. The Dutch settlers have been in it for more than three centuries and almost everything that breathes in the last corner of africa It bears little resemblance to the rest of the continent.
It can be started in Victoria and Albert Waterfront , the old commercial port of Cape Town and, in its time, one of the most important in the world. All the maritime traffic coming from India on its way to Europe stopped at these docks, when the ** Suez Canal ** did not exist.
Today, the Waterfront is a bubble isolated from the rest of the city , with modern restaurants, an open-air cinema, a shopping center and luxury apartments, preserving the aesthetics of the old port buildings.
From its docks leave dozens of boat and helicopter tours , but the most recommended is the one that takes you to Robben Island where is the old prison in which Nelson Mandela spent 18 years incarcerated . It is now a memorial to one of the country's darkest times, the apartheid.
In the afternoon you can take a walk around the Bo Kaap neighborhood , with colorful houses of just one or two heights of colonial style. close is by waterkant , a neighborhood with small alleys full of trees where behind the innocent facades, huge and luxurious houses are hidden. Some of them have been converted into pleasant boutique hotels with swimming pools, such as ** De Waterkant House **.
Another of the essential plans in Cape Town is to climb the Table Mountain , one of the natural wonders of the world and that dominates the entire city. Although there is a cable car, if your legs are good enough, you can walk up. The reward is a dizzying views of the entire city and, beyond, the Cape Peninsula. It is also worth spending at least half a day's excursion to visit the Cape of Good Hope National Park , whose landscapes are overwhelming.
Bo Kaap
Cape Town is an excellent destination to taste the delicacies of the south african cuisine . The offer of restaurants is enormous, and can be found from international flavors even the most local grilled meats , going through curries introduced by the centennial Indian colony in the country. african mom is an excellent and folkloric option to try exotic grills, while ** Carne SA ** is almost unbeatable for meat lovers.
The party doesn't disappoint either. Although it is not located in a single area, the city center has several cocktail bars such as pink surf and places they frequent the most cosmopolitan scene in the city as Yours Truly , in which you can feel like in the fashionable places of London or Berlin, but with an unparalleled mix of races and styles. The party doesn't disappoint either.
Beware, prices are not low compared to surrounding countries. Although most things are cheaper than in Europe , good sites are paid.
Renting a car to do the route, however, is not expensive, but gasoline is. To do it Garden Route no 4x4 is necessary, not even to explore any of the National Parks that are in its vicinity.
Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles
SWIM WITH SHARKS
Leaving Cape Town and behind, the first stop on the Garden Route is Gansbaai, one of the world centers for great white shark sighting . It is a tiny locality, rather similar to a well-kept beach resort and without too much hustle and bustle, where the only thing to do, besides to rest well , it is venture to one of the most impressive experiences what you can have: see and feel the great white shark from a submersible cage just inches from you.
There are several agencies that offer departures every day, starting early in the morning, at the main dock in Van Dyks Bay. Some of them are **White Shark Projects** or Sharklady Adventures . The price per person ranges from 90 and 120 euros , but nothing guarantees the sighting of one of the largest predators in the seas. The boats usually go to a place about 15 minutes from the coast and by throwing fish bait they try to attract the Great White. In the worst cases, you will see other species of sharks (less impressive, yes) and even seals.
After Gansbaai you can follow the route to the ** Cape of the Needles .** This is, properly speaking, the northernmost place in Africa and where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet.
White shark in Gansbaai
mile-long white sand beaches
The Garden Route , which is so called because of the incredible landscapes it crosses and its kilometers pristine white sand beaches , continues through numerous coastal towns. One that is worth emphasizing is Plettenberg Bay , where there are lodging options ranging from secluded oceanfront beach houses to golf course resorts. The town is also small, but it has a lively nightlife.
Following the route, you will find the Tsitsikamma National Park , an environment in which the river storms and that it is one of the best natural enclaves in the area, where abundant vegetation is combined with the sea. In the park, you can sleep in front of the rocks where the waves break and hike through its hills, from where the views of the ocean are impressive.
About two hours from Tsitsikamma is Jeffrey's Bay , one of the world Meccas Of Surfing, with a huge beach of dunes, surf hostels, bars and even outlets of the main surf brands in the world. It is one of those perfect places to go about life with flip flops and a swimsuit, without being aware of what day of the week it is.
Plettenberg Bay
WILD LIFE IN FIRST PERSON
In J Bay you can end the Garden Route, but before heading back to Cape Town, the Addo Elephant National Park It is a mandatory stop. It has nothing to do with the imposing Kruger Park in the north of the country, on the border with Mozambique, but this natural setting very close to the coast offers everything you are looking for if you want to see African animals in their wildest state.
As its name indicates, Addo is a reserve that houses mainly huge herds of elephants , but can also be found rhinos, lions, leopards, buffalo and all kinds of antelopes , within an immense area that reaches the sea, and where you can sleep in sumptuous cabins or in fenced canvas tents, next to elephant watering holes that, at sunset, offer a show worthy of the best documentaries.
Elephants in Addo Elephant National Park
THE ARID KAROO
Leaving Addo, you can take the return route by crossing the arid karoo plain , where the landscape is radically different from the Garden Route, but no less fascinating for that. As you approach Cape Town again, they appear around the roadside farms, large Afrikaner plantations and vineyards that can be visited.
One of the places to stop is Oudsthoorn , the world capital of the ostrich, in whose streets several mansions rise from its golden age, when the feather of this bird decorated the headdresses of the ladies of the Victorian high society in Europe. Around Oudtshoorn there are some ostrich farms that are well worth a visit. a.
The journey cannot end without stopping at Stellenbosch, an elegant Boer town an hour from Cape Town with landscaped streets and a lively atmosphere , which you will miss when you land back in the cold European winter and you have left behind this earthly African paradise.
The Karoo Plains