25 August - Sunday Road Trip

I was up for a 5.30 departure, wandering around the lodge and garden in the darkness and cool of the morning and wondering where the other six people were. However, they all arrived with moments to spare and we headed off on the long drive to start the morning.

Running along near the southern coast off South Africa in the area between here and Cape Town are the Tsitsikamma Mountains that give their name to that area. Between the mountains and the sea lies a road trip known as the 'Garden Route' which supposedly covers the best that this area has to offer in terms of scenery and beaches and things to see. Today we were going to cover some of that ground under the guidance of Luke, occasional Shamwari ranger (he has been one of the two rangers who have taken us out so far) and, more often, tour guide.

Our first stop was Tsitsikamma National Park (actually, our first stop had been a little earlier when we walked a bridge over one of the deep and steep sided gorges cut by one of the rivers coming down from the mountains but as it was a busy road bridge near a service area I don’t think it really counts). This wooded and hilly area adjoins the sea providing families and more serious walkers with facilities and a range of great routes. We watched the blue Indian Ocean spectacularly crashing into the rocks along the shore line, saw a whale broach far out to sea (in reality a brief and fleeting dark dot way off) and then set off on a short coastline path that took an undulating route around the cliffs, under the shade of woods, and to a suspension bridge. The bridge crossed another of the gorges formed by a river from the mountains but this time not a car in sight: suspended 30 feet over the azure water of the water as the gorge opened out into the ocean, the pedestrian bridge gave great views of the rugged coast and out to sea as it bounced around with the steps of various walkers as they crossed. From here it was back to a great lunch overlooking the sea and then off to a small monkey sanctuary and adjacent aviary. We were guided round the monkey sanctuary seeing a range of monkeys from South Africa and Asia. Despite the warnings about hanging onto things and not wearing glasses and the like, the animals seemed to be more interested in the oranges that had recently been left around rather than us; it is this I think that keeps them in this area of woodland rather than disappearing off into the surrounding area. We then walked around the aviary where a massive structure of netting rather than food kept them in place (the biggest covered aviary in the world I believe). While the birds were beautiful and the setting was great it was less informative as we were self guided.

We then headed for home but not before we stopped at a road bridge over the Storm Gorge where the world's highest bungee jump takes place (218 metres).  Two of the group were keen to do the jump, the rest of us settled for walking an open walkway to the jump point in the supporting structure under the bridge. You could see the ground hundreds of feet below the wire mesh floor of the walkway which was a little unnerving but I felt comfortable, as I did while standing at the launch point. However, as I watched jumpers, feet strapped together, shuffling to the edge edging and dropping into oblivion I visualised in my mind what must be going through their heads and knew this was not for me and was glad I had not elected to do it.

It was a long drive home and we did not arrive until 8pm. Tomorrow some of the participants leave so we gathered around one of the fire pits chatting and drinking until, as people had slipped away one by one, I was left sitting alone with my thoughts staring into the glowing embers of the dying fire.