A Week On The Garden Route
Monday 19th October – Port Elizabeth – Tsitsikamma Village
To set off on the Garden Route I first had to leave Shamwari Conservation Experience. As it had done for the past two weeks, SCE continued to deliver on its spectacular life-changing experience. The transfer to Port Elizabeth and where I’d pick up the rental car to begin the Garden Route was at 11am. However at 8am, all of the volunteers were having a group lecture from Dr Johan – the resident veterinarian – as we were preparing to assist in the tranquilising and treatment of Maggie the lioness at the Born Free Foundation. A true once in a lifetime experience to witness, let alone be a part of. My girlfriend Becky was humorously coaxed into touching the lions tongue as the doctor faux-roared resulting in Becky nearly having a heart attack. I then got to wraps my arms around (hug) Maggie as I measured the girth of her chest as part of the routine health check. I couldn’t believe the opportunity I had been afforded in being able to witness the caretaking of such a majestic beast up close and personal especially when I considered the appalling conditions Maggie had been found in and rescued from. Born Free Foundation along with Shamwari Conservation Experience will always hold a dear place in my heart for the worthwhile and the much-needed liberal work they partake in.
After picking up the car and dropping a fellow volunteer – continuing her own journey – at Jeffreys Bay we headed toward Tsitsikamma. The scenery on the way to Tsitsikamma opened up like a pop-up picture book. Pine trees covered vast expanses wherever the road wasn’t laid. Mountains draped in atmosphere and mist ran parallel to the car as if they were trying to keep up with the speed limit. I struggled to keep my eyes front as I half expected to see The Fellowship trekking the mountains and I was left disheartened that I hadn’t downloaded Howard Shore’s spectacular score for The Lord Of The Rings trilogy to play whilst driving.
After following the N2 (main road for most of the Garden Route) for some hours we arrived in Tsitsikamma village – a picturesque and quaint village full of guesthouses and hostels that were surrounded by all the forest had to offer. Tsitsikamma village embraces the nature it so wants to be a part of which is heartening to see and charming to be a part of. After a small hike through a forest and seeing more of the local community, Tsitsikamma is how I imagined the 1800’s Louisiana with its thick, green life and bayous with swamps and marshes. I of course have never been to Louisiana in 1874 as my DeLorean is in the garage but from films I have this fond thought of the look of that era and somehow, in Tsitsikamma, it reminded me of a memory I never actually experienced. Life is strange. An early night was on the cards after a long day of healing lions and being a part of The Fellowship.
Tuesday 20th October – Tsitsikamma Village – National Park – Knysna
What better way to start the day than a high dose of adrenalin. After a hearty breakfast naturally. Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours offer ziplining across the vivacious gorges and atop flowing waterfalls. With a quick safety demo I was out and ziplining (flying like Superman in my mind) over some remarkable natural sites. I mean I actually went flying (I’m going with the Superman thing) over a waterfall at 9am on a Tuesday morning. For one: it’s such a cool thing to do and a sight to behold and for two: just a couple of months prior I was working a job I hated being part of a culture and society I loathed. If British culture and being caught in the stress of modern day city life is a Dementor then travelling free is my Patronus. After I’d finished being Superman we drove to Tsitsikamma National Park where we passed farms of pine trees which held an ominous aura where travelling at speed past the dense thickets of trees, one could be hopeful of seeing a werewolf on the prowl.
Just prior to entering the park we passed a raging bushfire which saddened my soul. Many firefighters were hard at work fighting the blaze and whilst being guided past it by a warden I could feel the wall of fire’s blistering heat even through the car. [Afterward I read up on wildfires and sometimes they can be good for the land so I took some solace in that] Upon paying an entrance fee into the park and driving downward into thick mist I was met with a scene I’d never looked upon before. I was dumbstruck upon seeing huge waves ploughing into jagged rocks acting as a beachfront. The sea (which is fed by Storms River – a huge part of Tsitsikamma) seemingly started around 20 metres out with a wall of fog adding an apparent solid backdrop. I imagined the sea was fenced off like many an old video game I played or much like The Truman Show where Truman finds his personal world’s boundary. If it wasn’t for the 15 foot-plus waves I may have ventured to go out and test my theory. After daydreaming for some time I escaped the sea’s magnetic pull on my imagination and went onto the second activity of the day.
Kayaking Storms River Mouth. A quick walk through the park itself was had as we couldn’t start in the sea like groups usually do; lest we desired to feel Poseidon’s wrath. We began our kayaking just as the sea and the river met. A sliver of river snaked between a valley reaching forever upward into the thick mist that was the new sky. It was strangely reminiscent of walking a thin street in New York and looking upward to view two parallel sky-scraper seemingly touching tips (compose yourselves!). But this was less man-made and more Skull Island. Short history lessons were delivered by the knowledgeable guides as we learnt that a blackened batcave (not that one – I asked) used to house the wood chips, that back in the 1800’s chopped down all of the Tsitsikamma coasts trees. Bastards. The cliffs we navigated through used to be horizontal laying under the water but tectonic plate movements forced them skyward. They are now covered in plant life and gravity-defying trees. Nature is awesome.
We boarded a small piece of flat land and swapped the kayaks for heavy duty lilos (Yes I just said that). Now laying down and paddling as if we were in a 5 star resort’s plush pool, we continued up river. Competitions were had to see who could stand up on the lilos – Becky and I triumphed and are now thinking of turning it into a career – and then we lined up all the lilos to make a red rubber bridge on the water to see who could run to the end. We are not going to pursue a career in lilo running sadly. And to finish off an excellent morning of activities we jumped ( and perhaps screamed) off 5 metre high cliffs into the river.
Lunch was a traveller’s special. A bread roll and some crackers along with a breathtaking view of the raging sea; I’ll take that over a 5 course meal in an overpriced joint any time.
After deciding I may live a remote life in Tsitsikamma when (if) I decide to settle in one place I decided to check out a place on the map called Nature’s Valley on the way to Knysna. Natures Valley was a real slice of the quiet life. A small area of big, lonesome houses that all flanked a beach like I’ve never seen before. Again this mystical mist may have had a part to play but mostly, it’s due to the fact that we had this huge beach almost entirely to ourselves. The sea in front, a small forest behind and only two distant silhouettes of people in the distance. We laid there and took in the environment around us, splashed our feet in the sea and marked our names with footprints in the sand that would inevitably be washed away by the rising tide as soon as we left. Coming up and out of Nature’s Valley via the one road in and out, it was covered with baboons lazing around, grooming (and possibly fellating) one another and generally just relaxing. I drove carefully and slowly to really take in yet another sight like no other I’d experienced prior.
A decent old drive continuing on the Garden Route through Plettenberg Bay which seems like a quaint town of fields and fishing. Arriving in Knysna hungry and tired after a full day of first experiences and mind-bending sights we cooked our first braai at the hostel. Undercooked rice and a succulent juicy T-bone led to a satisfied end to a more-than-pleasurable day.
Wednesday 21st October – Knysna – Wilderness
We left Knysna very early to have a relaxed day in Wilderness – a small, quaint town between Knysna and George. We surfed, we ate and we relaxed. We talked, we thought and we listened to great live music. The two weeks volunteering at Shamwari Game Reserve prior to our travelling the Garden Route had worn us out and we knew we had a busy week ahead of us. We ended up bumping into Mike – one of the rangers from Shamwari – aka The Human Swiss-Army Knife as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog. We shared pizza and cocktails and laughed the night away with many of his friends, one of whom was delivering the chilled and soothing live music. ( His stage name is Chris McCandless – Yes after him!) Conversations were had about world-politics, living, chasing dreams and the the welsh words ‘cwtch’ and ‘popty ping’ If you don’t know what they mean then please search them right away. They’ll be your new favourite words I promise. One of the best evenings I’ve had whilst drinking cocktails in a long, long time. Spent in great company, in a quiet small town. A world away from the forced-good-times nightclubs apparently hold back home. Much of the day was spent smiling and thinking which in my eyes is one of the most precious cocktails of life.
Thursday 22nd October – Wilderness – Outdshoorn – Cango Caves – Hermanus.
An early morning had had to (try) make our 9 o’clock booking at Cango Caves, roughly 1 hour 45 minutes inland. A quick fuel stop (unleaded for the car and coffee for myself) was to be had but what really awoke me was driving through a vast mountain range on thin, winding roads with sheer drops and spectacular views on offer. Seeing as we were inevitably late (only by 15 minutes so we instead caught the 9.30am tour which was the Adventure Tour and this was a serendipitous happening as the Adventure Tour was way more insightful, fun and in-depth than the Standard as you go a lot farther into the cave system stretching into the mountains. The caves are over 20 million years old and show signs of the ancient bushmen using them (just the entrance opening as it was way too dark and deep for them to navigate any further – apparently) up to 80,000 years ago. A little perspective if i’ve ever needed any. The natural formations of stalactite meeting stalagmite is one of nature’s curious little coincidences. Huge openings inside the mountain and tiny (30cm!) crawl spaces added to a fun morning. Not least because whilst crawling these tiny spaces I felt like Solid Snake infiltrating Shadow Moses (If you really don’t understand this reference then stop your life and go play the Metal Gear Solid series).
With another 5 hours ahead of us to make our way to Hermanus to make our booking, ( we had to make our way hastily through the Garden Route as foolishly, when booking the flights long ago we thought 7 days would be enough) we stopped at a designated picnic spot all along Route 62 – the inland alternate route for the Garden Route as opposed to the more coastal N2 – and had another traveller’s lunch. Some desert, some bush with only a single road to half the orange/green plains was our view for the snacktime.
Much like I’d seen in American road movies. We continued on through townships in the designated centre of nowhere. People whose home were home no matter how inconvenient. Power to them!
Even the varied awe-inspiring scenes of dusty orange land, bright green forests, golden corn farms, endless mountain ranges and perpetual nothingness couldn’t save me from the lag and tiredness hanging over me and the ball-soup I’d cooked up. Upon finally rolling into Hermanus, its clean and pristine look took me by surprise as I’d read it was a very old fishing village. I think with many people stopping there to hopefully catch a glimpse of the whales spottable from the coastline, some money has gone into the town and afforded the council to make it look very shiny and presentable. A little walk along the coast was not prosperous for our wishful sighting of whales so I settled for a seafood pasta instead as I knew I’d be guaranteed to see sea-life (reading that back I sound like a sadist, I’m not I was just tired, hungry and fancying some calamari). We arrived at the guesthouse with just enough energy to recollect how amazing a time we had had so far and how sad we were that South Africa was nearly over.
Friday 23rd October – Hermanus
Initially our plan was to travel to Cape Town on this day but we were so pooped from the day before and wanted to see some whales damn it! So we stayed another day to relax and recuperate on the beach.
Funny thing about Hermanus being a town sat right on the coast is that its pretty windy. A Beach Day was a Beach 20 Minutes before we admitted defeat. The victor in our defeat was what felt like a sandstorm. Its very hard to write (old school pen and paper for my travel journal) whilst sand creatures attack you every which way. The best laid plans…
So we relaxed inside a cafe and Becky drew (She draws, I write – Its only a matter of time before we create a comic book) whilst I played Metal Gear Solid on my PS Vita. My recent exploits in the Caves of Cango had me wanting some tactical espionage action in my life and luckily I downloaded the PS1 classic to my Vita before leaving. *pats self on back* The day was chilled as we had wanted and so we decided to walk the coastal path all along Hermanus’ twisting sea front and guess what we saw ….WHALES! Huge whales with humped backs. All in all we saw four whales and a few dolphins( I say ‘a few’ as they were fleeting by and only showed themselves briefly). One whale put on quite a show. Breaching his head above water first and then giving the gawping audience that had accumulated on the raised coast a few Air Fives. I could not believe the sheer size of Moby (I like to make it easier for you darling readers by characterising these mesmerising beasts I meet). Moby came almost entirely out of the water and he must have been more than 30 foot long. He was roughly 30 metres away from the shore so we had a spectacular view of this titan of the sea.
Back at the hostel we had a communal braai which wasn’t quite as good as the one we had a couple of nights back. I think mine tasted better for the sheer fact I started my own fire to cook it and in turn fed my own machismo as well as my belly. This was our first night sleeping in a dorm as it was the only room the hostel could spare and because why not we are travellers. I’ll tell you why not dear readers. There were at least 3 profuse snorers in there. One stole the show with his orchestral range of snores. I will name him Snorlax because, as I said, I like to characterise these mesmerising beasts I meet.
We retired to the couches downstairs. I feared I may smother sweet Snorlax if I was deprived of anymore sleep.
Saturday October 24th – Hermanus – Cape Town
I kicked off a sunny and non-windy day with a skate with a dude who worked in the hostel.
An hour and a half later I was back at the hostel ready to get to Cape Town minus my skateboard. Some traffic cop on a powertrip had some worn prejudice against skateboarders and long story short, confiscated our boards because he had nothing better to do than piss all over our parade (on wheels) even though we were doing nothing unruly, illegal or heinous. We were just skating! After many words exchanged to him and the staff at the police station it was a possibility for me to get my board back as I had done zero wrong and had worded my case excellently if I do say so myself. I was however on a tight time frame to get back to hostel so Becky didn’t think I’d left her to skate Hermanus forever-more and that we needed to get to Cape Town to make it worth our while. After 15 minutes the rent-a-cop didn’t show up and I thought he could take a lot longer if he wants to be a real dick about it and so I said farewell to Gavin and the police staff but more importantly my noble steed of a skateboard (An Almost pro-deck special DC edition custom made – IT HAD THE JOKER ON IT!).
[Profanity warning] Now whilst I do not hold hate for anyone and would like to bring more happiness into this world that seems to be having its happiness sucked out of it by corporations/politicians but that rent-a-cop can eat a big bag of shit. There is always a bright side however and now I do not have to lug my board around South-East Asia.
The ride into Cape Town was as picturesque(I think I’m out of superlatives) as the rest of South Africa had been. After a quick bite to eat we were in the cable-car on our way up Table Mountain. The cable-car rotated as it climbed the 1000+ metres to the top just to make the journey up even better. Upon arriving at the zenith of Table Mountain I was confounded by the staggering scale and distance I was able to see naturally (well, with the help of a powerful prescription in my sunglasses). The Atlantic ocean spanned as far as the eye could see. A white fluffy army of cloud crept inward from the sun-kissed horizon to slowly encroach on the city like an attack of nature. Luckily from my Olympian viewpoint I only had to look downward past my feet to attain the sneaking army’s plan.
We walked around the rectangular circumference of the summit and were astounded at every blink of the eye. Anyone could be a professional photographer up here and I’d imagined this is where the ‘panoramic’ mode on cameras was first thought of. Many informative boards were placed along the walkway informing the reader of the geological goings-on that helped create Table Mountain (there is evidence that it could be the oldest mountain on earth), information about the flora and fauna found here and how precipitation and wind-flow from the sea cause the famed ‘pouring clouds’ from the mountains top down into the city. There was an old explanation of this (before Science and all that nonsense) that a pirate captain and the devil himself are locked in a perpetual smoking contest. How awesome is that! This all-encompassing view and perspective of the Western Cape of South Africa took my breath away (figuratively of course, the altitude isn’t that hard to breath in).
The evening consisted of fortune and misfortune. The fortune of great jamaican food is never unwelcome. The misfortune of being in South Africa whilst their rugby team loses in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup is bitter to say the least. So many disappointed faces. I was going to try and console some green and gold clad fans by saying at least they beat us (Wales) last week but I thought better of it.
And that was South Africa. I’m writing this 3 days after this diary finished whilst in Phnom Penh. I’ve just about recovered from 6 hours sleep in 72 hours and enough airports to make me now want to sail the rest of my journey like the pirate I’ve always dreamt of being.
South Africa you are truly The Rainbow Nation. You hold many peoples with a vast number of backgrounds and a plethora of different languages and beliefs. Although I’ve seen but a slither of your majesty I promise I will be back if you will be so gracious as to host me. You have had a tumultuous history dashed with violence, racism, social segregation and many more terrible ongoings but you take that in your stride as you look to a brighter future and, for the most part, have learned from your past strifes. I like to think you get the name ‘Rainbow Nation’ not from the many colours that make you whole but that without rain there would be no rainbows.
If you’ve enjoyed my words then please share onward as, like any writer wishes, I want my writing to be read and enjoyed by as many people as possible.
Thank you.
Aaron Farrell
The Wandering Wonderer - Travelling Tales, Wonderful Writings & Endless Possibilities. 