Western Cape -- the Garden Route

Our first stop along the garden route was in St Francis, a gorgeous place popular with surfers, where we toured the local lighthouse. That night we stopped in Nature's Valley near Tsisikamma National Park. There is a huge, red estuary that empties into the sea there, which is very dramatic -- as were the huge jellyfish the size of car tyres all over the beach! We spent the night there and the next day in the national park, hiking, taking a boat trip up the gorge and watching the dolphins play off coast. In the afternoon we visited the excellent (if naffly named) Monkeyland, a sanctuary housing over 300 abandoned monkies from all over the world, and then on to the fantastic town of Plettenburg Bay. We had the best meal that we'd

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had in South Africa in an Italian restaurant that evening and spent the next day walking the Robberg Peninsula, watching seals play and seeing the rare African oystercatcher and I went whale watching while Si went golfing. Without doubt, a major highlight of my trip was watching the humpback whales breach within metres of a boat. We carried on to Knysna, a small town on a huge estuary famous for its oysters and rare seahorses. We took tour to the nearby nature reserve, called Feather Bay, before making our way to Wilderness. We spent a fantastic night in a great chalet with a stunning view of the beach from above, watching whales and dolphins off coast. It was very tempting to stay on, but the ostriches were calling . . . E