From Plett we went to Cape Town. We stopped at Hermanus for lunch. Hermanus is a small town which is famous for it’s whale viewing. The whales season between July and November. Southern Right Whales migrate from Antarctica to South Africa to give birth and mate. Hermanus even has a whale festival at the beginning of whale season. Even though the whale season was meant to have been over we were still were lucky enough to see a Southern Right Whale. In Cape Town we stayed at a backpackers on Long Street. Long Street is where most of the bars, restaurants and clubs are found in Cape Town. The backpackers (Bluemountain Backpackers) was in a very old, large house with a balcony all the way round it. On our first day in Cape Town we went ... read more
From Addo Elephant National Park we travelled to Plettenberg Bay (Plett). It’s a much shorter stretch than any of the other road journeys so we stopped at a few places along the way. We stopped at the Bloukrans Bridge. The bridge is the highest bridge in Africa and the Southern hemisphere (height 216m). It is also the highest commercial bungee jump in the world! Only one of us was brave enough to do it -and hell no, it wasn’t me. Our next stop was Natures Valley at the mouth of the Groot River. It is beautiful! I was disappointed that we didn’t see more of Tsitsikamma forest though. I still want to go there. We spent the next three nights at a backpackers just outside Plettenberg Bay. The backpackers is called Starling Village backpackers. The owners ... read more
From Coffee Bay we travelled to Port Elizabeth (PE) to fetch an extra person from the Airport then went further inland to our next accommodation, Orange Elephant Backpackers. Orange Elephant is about 8 km from Addo Elephant National Park. The rooms feel more like a guesthouse. Each little house had two double rooms with a small lounge and bathroom. The main area has a restaurant and bar area. (The food at the restaurant was very good) We spent the whole of the next day in the National Park and in the evening we sat around the camp fire and listened to a band that was also travelling along the coast. The park itself: In the park itself we did see plenty of elephants. Addo has over 450 elephants and has densest population of elephants in the ... read more
We spent the first day of our road trip travelling from Johannesburg to Durban. (Lots of not so interesting driving). There had been a lot of rain so the Free State was much greener and prettier than usual. We stopped at Howick to look at the waterfall which was fuller than I’ve ever seen it. We arrived in Durban around lunch time and explored the city a bit. Durban is situated in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa. We saw the stadium which is being built for the 2010 soccer world cup and then dipped our feet in the sea for the first time on our trip. The sea is very warm on the Eastern side of the country. We also had a drink at the waterfront before heading back to our host’s house. Our ... read more
Yay, I'm going down to Knysna during whale season! Last time I went during whale season a whale and her calf swam into Knysna lagoon. I could watch them from about 100 meters away! i also watched whales in Plettenburg Bay. (Plett is about hlf an hours drive from knysna) Every year over 3000 Southern Right Whales migrate from Antarctica to South Africa to give birth and mate in the warm sheltered bays off SA. They spend the winter (June to October) in the quiet bays between the West Coast and Port Elizabeth. September seems to be the best time to see them. Every year the numbers increase since the southern right whale is still recovering from the large amount of whaling before it was banned in South Africa (in 1940). (The population increases by about ... read more