February 1-9: Garden Route and Wild Coast, South Africa

We left Cape Town at the beginning of February, and began making our way along the coast of South Africa. We were ready to start our long journey and were wondering if we’d bitten off a bit more than we could chew, trying to make it all the way up to Kenya and back by July… After spending one more night with the Mudge family at Chiltern Farm, and being loaded up with bags of apples, pears, and all sorts of camping equipment, we drove off toward the De Hoop Nature Reserve where we had a very good sighting of bontebok (such beautiful animals!), as well as blue crane, white stork and Cape vulture. I am definitely starting to catch the bird-watching fever!

Bontebok near De Hoop Nature Reserve

The area just inland of the coast is very pastoral, with little white farmhouses dotting the landscape. The rolling hills are covered in vineyards and pastureland for sheep, cattle and ostrich, and birds are everywhere. From this semi-arid region, we proceeded on to the semi-tropical coast, where we spent three days at Nature’s Valley, fishing in the ocean and the estuary and hiking in the dense forests. The best part was seeing the Knysna lourie every morning during my jog through the forest.

Easing into the camping life!

From the Garden Route, we drove toward the Wild Coast, marveling at how the landscape abruptly changed from lush forests to acacia grassland to succulent-rich hills and canyons. We took the scenic route through the area, stopping in Morgan’s Bay, Dwesa Nature Reserve and Coffee Bay. The Wild Coast feels very remote: small brightly-colored rondavels (turquoise and orange seem to be the two favorite colors) dot the lush green hillslopes, and goats, cattle, sheep and donkeys crowd the dirt tracks. We drove for days (in and out of the rain) up and down winding dirt roads, over rivers and through small villages (where people stared and waved, and the children ran after us yelling for sweets).

Turquoise rondavels, Wild Coast

We had heard that the Wild Coast is one of the poorest areas in South Africa, but we were impressed at how clean and well-maintained the countryside actually is. The people here do not live in squalor (as so many people do in the townships) – it is obvious that they take a lot of pride in living the traditional Xhosa village life, farming the land and herding their animals.