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Published: January 24th 2021
We could not resist an early morning bike ride and a splash in the ocean before setting off to Tsitsikama only 100km away; another well-known stop on the Garden Route. We drove our bicycles through the nicely build canal area of St Francis Bay, admiring the gorgeous waterfront properties and the folks being active in their kayaks, canoes and jet skis. Some kids were already out and about jumping in and out of the water screaming and yelling from joy. Kids are kids everywhere. The black children from the ghettos nearby can not enjoy this canal areas. Even after Apartheid some communities like to stay separated.
Tsitsikamma National Park is a multi-dimensional destination with dramatic coastal scenery, reefs, rivers and lush forest. The boundary of the Tsitsikamma National Park stretches some 5km out to sea, protecting a wonderland of inter-tidal life, reef and deep-sea fish. A hiking and water sports paradise, this region forms the top section of the magnificent Garden Route National Park. After our arrival in we hiked a short path through a dense forest and reached a look out. Seeing booming breakers of the Indian Ocean relentlessly pounding rocky shores far below us, we were primarily observing
the sea in the hope to see whales or dolphins. The former eluded us, but we saw a larger group of Dolphins pass elegantly playing with waves and surf. The Southern Right Whale visits these waters in season, coming inshore to breed, but at present it is not its season. There are many hiking trails of varying lengths and nature walks in this region, the most famous of them being the Otter Trail, one of the best in the world, for toughies only…
The weather cooled down again. These weather swings reminded Nenad on the Great Ocean Road in Australia, where in the mid of the summer having a sweater a rain jacket but also a swimming outfit is a must. It is quite tiering the ever changing weather. We do feel moments of tiredness, having been on the road for a while already. But our marathon across South Africa is continuing, no time for such emotions !!!
Our stay was in a remote lodge called Misty Mountains Adventure Land. They offer a cool quadbike tour into the forest. Again we drove for kilometers over dirt roads to get there and again we were literally the only guests.
We really pity the people who try hard to survive amidst this terrible tourist crisis. The quadbikes we were so much looking forward to do were out of service. We guessed that cash flow must be tight and repairing them may not be possible right now. So we took the opportunity to look around the area a bit and visit the only town in the National Park, Stormsrivier where in a rundown Raggy style pub cum restaurant we had dinner; which was surprisingly good.
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