10 days on the Garden Route
A few words about the accommodations.... Overnight stay in Cape Town at Verona Lodge (located near the Waterfront, reachable on foot in 20 minutes) run by a very friendly couple. Highly recommended. Visiting the city on the open-top tourist bus to get an overall view of Cape Town. Climbing Table Mountain with a couple-hour hike... suggestive and not at all crowded. Many people stop at the first stretch... better to continue without forgetting to bring a bottle of water. Excursion to the botanical gardens (nothing exceptional) Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, passing along the road that skirts the Twelve Apostles, entirely carved out of the rock. Breathtaking view... too bad about the fog. Overnight stay in Simons Town at the Rockland lodge. Very beautiful with a panoramic view of the sea, large and very well-kept rooms/apartments. From the breakfast terrace we saw our first whale.
Highly recommended! Visit to the penguins of the Boulder Beach colony in the early morning, basically just us and the penguins... absolutely hilarious. Continuing on to the Winelands with a stop at the Fairview winery in Paarl, good wine and goat cheese! We tasted several wines and cheeses, ordered bottles of wine to be shipped to Italy (promptly delivered) and left staggering but satisfied. Arrival in Hermanus and overnight stay at the Walker Bay Artist Manor. There is definitely better out there. Transfer to Gansbaai for the shark outing done with Shark Diving by Michael Rutzen. A couple-hour excursion with a cage dive to meet this beautiful animal that is going extinct. Thrilling.... despite the seasickness. Don't miss the nearby beach of De Kelders where the whales come close to the shore.
Overnight stay at Aire del Mar near Klenbaai (a few steps from the little harbor where the boats leave in search of sharks). Bright accommodation with a sea view, large rooms equipped with everything. Highly recommended! Continuing toward Plettenberg with overnight stay in the area of the Crag at Moonshine on Whiskey Creek, a resort with wooden chalets immersed in the woods with a jacuzzi available to guests, positioned on a wooden platform in the middle of the forest. Truly beautiful and very romantic. Highly recommended! In the area, the possibility of walking with the Cheetahs at the Tenikwa feline sanctuary and a visit to the Monkey Land park where numerous little monkeys, lemurs and gibbons live freely. Don't miss the nearby Birds of Eden, an enormous aviary with different types of birds. It's so big that if you don't look up at the sky it's hard to believe you're in an aviary.
Continuing toward Storm River Camp positioned on the coast in the Tsitsikamma park. A fabulous place, with the possibility of staying in wooden chalets directly on the cliff and taking beautiful walks between woods and sea. An unforgettable way to end the vacation. This in a few words is our trip. Usually people dedicate just a few days to this stretch of South Africa, but it definitely deserves more time.
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