Week 11 and 12 - South Africa

We used the last few days to decide where to go in Africa. The plan was made and we knew that we could spend another two weeks in South Africa. The first few days were already planned. Fortunately, Cedi's father Walter had planned a vacation in South Africa with Beate, so we spent the last few days of their vacation together. On Monday morning, we were picked up right in front of the hostel (what a service!) and headed to Camps Bay for the first photo and coffee stop. We continued past beautiful cliffs and white sandy beaches through the Tokai Forest Reserve to make a stop at a lighthouse and watch the brave surfers. In the late afternoon, we had our first wine tasting at Cape Point Vineyard, where Walter introduced us to the Art of Winetasting. We spent the night in a beautiful bed and breakfast in Simon's Town. The view was fantastic!

The next day it was time to put on the hiking boots. We took a short hike to the viewpoint at Elephant's Eye cave. Again, the weather and the view were fantastic! After a snack, we continued south. A Cape Round Trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Once again, the view was beautiful and the weather did not disappoint. But I think we can say that we were definitely not the only ones with this idea. There were incredibly many people. In the late afternoon, we headed back to Cape Town. Since Walter and Beate were flying back to Switzerland early the next morning, we spent the last night together in the airport hotel. Conveniently, we could give them our excess luggage, so we had a bit more space in our backpack. We said goodbye late in the evening. It was great with you! Many thanks and see you soon!

Staying at the airport was ideal for us as well. The next morning, we were able to go directly to the car rental office and pick up our car for the next few days. It should be a Renault Sandero (known in Europe under the brand Dacia Sandero). Cedi as the driver and me as the map reader were once again the perfect distribution of roles, as we have been many times abroad. Our first stop was Muizenberg, where we wanted to see the colorful bathing huts, followed by a visit to Boulders Beach to observe the cute penguins. We headed back towards Cape Town and then along the coast through Gordons Bay to get to Hermanus. A beautiful route that is highly recommended. We spent the first night in Hermanus. We continued to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, which of course had to be visited for a photo stop. Funny enough, we met two familiar faces there by chance. Ali and Honey have been driving through Africa with their Jeep and are now close to their destination. We have already met them at Victoria Falls and in Namibia and now by pure chance again. Since the Cape Agulhas is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans are supposed to meet, Cedi didn't want to miss the opportunity to take a swim in Struis Bay. The Indian Ocean was not as warm as we were used to from Zanzibar :-)

The next few days we continued comfortably towards Port Elizabeth, our planned destination. We crossed Mossel Bay and Wilderness to spend a night in the middle of nowhere in Knysna. We had a small cottage to ourselves and had to cook for ourselves again after months, as there were no restaurants in sight. Very idyllic. The name of the place was Forest Edge, in case someone is longing for nature and tranquility. Before continuing the next morning, we took a short hike in the nearby national park. The many spider webs that stretched across the narrow path probably indicated that no one had passed this way in a long time. We continued towards the coast. Jeffrey's Bay was our stop for a few nights. We wanted to finally have a beach day and rented a bodyboard to ride the waves. Luckily, with a wetsuit. The water was quite cold.

Originally, we wanted to drive all the way to Port Elizabeth. But several travelers we met told us that Port Elizabeth was not worth seeing, so we decided to turn back after Jeffreys Bay. The next stop was Plettenberg Bay. A place we really liked, especially because of its nature reserve, Robberg Nature Reserve. The nature reserve is a rocky peninsula with hiking trails. We could see thousands of seals below us in the water again and again. During the whale migration season, whales are said to come close to the coast as well. It is easy to imagine that the nature reserve with its high cliffs must have the best view. We really enjoyed the hike. There are different paths. We did 'The Gap' and 'Witsand' and can highly recommend this circular route. After Plettenberg Bay, we continued towards Knysna. We had already passed through Knysna a few days ago, but the weather was so bad that we quickly moved on. Now, with the weather being nice, Knysna showed itself in all its glory, and we are glad we drove back to Knysna Heads. A very beautiful view over the bay! Thanks, Jasmin, for the tip! Once again, we booked an apartment through Airbnb for the night. (We are enthusiastic about Airbnb in South Africa!) This time, the apartment even had a washing machine. It may sound incomprehensible, but we have been looking forward to this accommodation for days. Especially to the washing machine. Since our departure, we have only washed our laundry by hand. It was long overdue for our clothes to finally see the inside of a washing machine again. So both backpacks were washed once. With freshly washed laundry neatly folded in the backpack, we left the coastal region and drove inland. Oudtshoorn was our next stop. Before checking into our bed and breakfast, we drove to Swartberg. The pass road is not paved, narrow, and often very steep. Perfect for Cedi to show off his driving skills. From our bed and breakfast, we had a great view of the huge field full of meerkats. That's what Oudtshoorn is known for. It's amazing how often the landscape changes here in South Africa. After Oudtshoorn, we continued towards Cape Town. We crossed Franschhoek and spent a few hours in the small town and the Saturday market before heading to Stellenbosch, where we stayed for another two nights. The plan was perfect because we had to take our 'worm tablets' these days. Regular readers know that we bathed in Lake Malawi in Africa. It is recommended to take tablets after a few weeks due to the parasites in the lake to kill these parasites. The side effects did not take long. We spare you the details. As alcohol is also known to kill unwanted bacteria and viruses, we went to two wine tastings the next day. After Stellenbosch, we headed back towards Cape Town. Since we planned to return our car to the airport on the day of our departure, we needed accommodation with a parking lot. We found a perfect apartment at Camps Bay, with a view of the sea. From there, on our second-to-last day in Africa, we also visited the famous Table Mountain. Once again, in the best weather and with a fantastic view.

We liked South Africa. Incredibly delicious food and drinks. Easy to travel and a lot of different landscapes to see. But it also feels like we were on a different continent. It made me think a few times. I probably spent too many weeks in the northern part of Africa.