Blogs from Wilderness, Western Cape, South Africa, Africa

How could I not like a place called Wilderness! This is a really nice village on the coast, part of the Garden Route. I got here a few days ago, after another day on the road from Mossel Bay. It was another nice day, with a variety of landscape, one really long hill where a local guy at the top called me "my love", and more farmlands. Thinking I was going to save time and effort, I went straight down the main road to Wilderness, but I realized today that this was a mistake. There was a much, much nicer road, which I cycled today. But I was happy to get to Wilderness, which reminds me of Banff but with the ocean instead of the mountains! I was happy to have the option to sleep in ... read more

Thursday 19th February 2105 - The Wilderness Our next destination was an area called The Wilderness where we had booked into a rather nice old game type lodge called Portland Manor. To get there we travelled along the infamous "Garden route" which was certainly green and lush compared to the rest of Africa. We also came across some excellent beaches and near to one beach we stopped to share some time and thoughts with a local guy who cycled, by hand as his legs were paralysed. ( you have never seen so many ingenious ways of repairing punctures. He had used fishing line to tie a knot around the holes - amazingly most worked. We gladly gave up our puncture repair kit and some money's to help him get sorted out. Laughing along the way as ... read more

In Wilderness we chose to stay at the "Beach House", that many backpackers had adviced us. The backpacker is situated in front of the beach, which gave us a beautiful view on the sea from our bed. Unfortunately, sleeping with 20 people in one dorm and having only one shower for so many people, wasn't for us worth the view. Therefore, we changed the next day to the "Fairy Knowe" backpacker, who is situated a bit farther from the beach, but next to the Wilderness National Park. A campaign French style house with a very welcoming crazy English owner. It was also the first time, we had the opportunity to borrow bicycles, which we used a lot during our stay there. Wilderness is jam-packed with activities. One of the activities we prefered was the beautiful hike ... read more

We stayed in a B & B for 3 nights that is owned by friends of Jane in the small coastal town of Wilderness. It overlooks a marsh and a lake. We went on a hike in the nearby mountains and walked a few miles on a beautiful quiet beach a few km away. Cape Agulhas is coming up next............ read more

Left the winelands to head for the coastal road known as the Garden Route - this is because it is green rather than because there are lots of gardens to visit. The roads (Route 62, N2) are really nice to drive, wide lanes, hardly any traffic and good surface, as such we made really quick progress even if we did try and outsmart the Sat Nav and end up doing a U-turn after a shortcut went wrong! Arrived at Haus Am Strand in Wilderness at lunchtime. We have a little studio apartment right on the beach, we can hear the sea crashing from the sofa as we write this blog. We strolled along the beach and saw hundreds of periwinkles in the surf, they are like little green snails that stick their “foot” out of their ... read more