Tsitsikamma National Park

Yesterday our journey continued. After breakfast, we left Addo Park and headed to Stormsriver at Tsitsikamma National Park for two nights. The drive was supposed to take less than two hours.

When we wanted to load our luggage into our car, it was spotlessly clean. Uh, is that even our car???? Yes, it seems the staff cleans the cars before the guests' departure. Amazing, because I was already thinking, 'Help, what will they say about the dirty car when we return it?' Well, that problem is now solved, grinning. With the sparkling clean car, we first had to drive 16 km on a bumpy dirt road from the lodge, horrifying. Two fast trucks came towards us and they instantly turned our shiny white car into a caramelized car :-)! We noticed that there were many millipedes on this road, it was spooky. On a small section, there were countless crickets, this part was completely black and there were hopping creatures everywhere. Close your eyes and go for it!

Otherwise, the drive was very pleasant and absolutely worth seeing. Just before Tsitsikamma, mountain landscapes appeared again. But completely different from the Drakensberg. It reminded me of the Allgäu region. There are many pine forests and the landscape itself appears rockier.

Since we arrived at our lodge very early, we naturally wanted to go to the park right away. We were recommended two hikes. The guy asked if we were fit. OF COURSE!!! So we received a recommendation for the path to the waterfall...

When we arrived at the park, we followed the signs that said 'Waterfall'. The car was quickly parked and us two 'fit girls' were quickly on our way. On the left was the Indian Ocean with gigantic surf crashing against cliffs. It not only looked crazy, but it also sounded fantastic. The view was amazing!!! You really had to concentrate while walking because you constantly wanted to look at the sea. At the beginning of the hike, there was a sign saying not to start after 2:30 pm and that it was a difficult path. An older couple was coming towards us and we thought, well if they can do it, then WE can too :-)!

The first section went through the jungle with occasional views of the ocean, it was indescribable, as was the sound of the sea in the jungle. It went over roots and tree trunks. We thought, and this is supposed to be difficult, pff no problem for us. But then, people....we stood in front of countless stones, rocks both outside and inside the water, and there were yellow markings that we had to follow. Okay, that was something. We looked at each other and discussed whether we should continue or turn back. CONTINUE!!!! It's a shame I didn't have my helmet camera with me, because that had to be filmed. It was so exhausting, my head almost exploded. Daniela said in between, 'Anke, are you okay, your head is soooo red?' Yeah, I'm fine! It was insane, who comes up with these paths??? After this rocky passage, there was another section through the jungle and we thought, ah, done. No, that was just the beginning of the difficult part. There were these rocky sections again and you had to be so careful not to slip. After almost 1 hour and 15 minutes, we finally reached the waterfall, completely exhausted. Daniela said to me, why are you looking at the sea and not at the waterfall? Guys, I had no idea where to look anymore. The main thing was that I could still look. I had to recover first and take two aspirin because my head almost exploded. In the meantime, Daniela took lots of photos and I watched the whales in the sea. There were so many out there and some could be clearly seen.

After about 30 minutes, it was time to go back, the same way. Ouch. If there had been another solution, I would have chosen it. On the way back, my concentration waned a bit and I slid down a rock formation with both feet. Help, fortunately there was a wider rock at the bottom that stopped me. What a hike? For us, it was more like climbing than hiking. By now, I knew what difficult meant! When we finally stood in front of our car, sweat was pouring down our bodies. We were completely exhausted but still walked to a suspension bridge. It is yet another attraction here in the park. And it was. It spans over the water and already wobbles quite a bit. Only 25 people are allowed on the bridge at a time. Luckily, it wasn't crowded and we had the bridge all to ourselves. From the bridges, we could also observe whales and seals. It was fantastic.

As incredible as this day was, I was glad to be lying in bed after a hot bath. This morning, only my left thigh and right index finger are sore. It's cloudy today, let's see what we will do. DEFINITELY not climb along rocky cliffs anymore, that's for sure :-).

Regards from Anke and Daniela

More pictures to come! Bad internet!