Later we rode through route 62, a scenic route that traverses vineyards, mountain ranges, and farms. The road was beautiful and plagued with bikers in their fancy gear going up and down the hills.
We spent the night in Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital. We didn't know that there was a festival in town that weekend, so we drove around for a couple of hours before we found the last room available in the valley (we came very close to spending the night in the car, but were lucky that the locals are extremely hospitable). The following morning we visited an ostrich farm that provided an educational tour and the opportunity to ride an ostrich. So I bravely hopped onto one, helped by two handlers. And the ostrich just started running full speed from one end of the corral to the other. I was hanging on to its wings for dear life, almost falling backwards, until the handlers stopped the bird and helped me get off. It looked like a cartoon: Mercedes on the back of roadrunner. I may not be a good rider, but I should note that the ostrich fillet is delicious, tasted almost like beef.
The rest of the day was quieter. We drove up the mountains of Klein Karoo through spectacular passes and hairpin roads. We also visited the enormous limestone Cango Caves filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and stalagnites (this is what the guide called the columns formed when the first two join).
Later we reached the famous Garden Route and almost instantly the weather changed from dry and sunny to misty and cloudy. The Garden Route runs next to the coast and it has some beautiful viewpoints. However, it is very developed, and being Easter weekend, there were too many tourists. We spent Saturday night in Knysna. On Sunday we hiked in Tsitsikamma National Park. This park is right on the coast, so the trail runs on the rocks' edge. We were hoping from one big rock to the next, while the waves came splashing hard on the wall of rock underneath us. There are lots of waves turning the ocean white with foam. (See picture). Very fun trail.
After that, we spent the night and the following morning in Jeffreys Bay. This town is famous worldwide for surfing and its "supertubes" waves. We were not in "supertubes" season; nevertheless the waves were quite big and there were several surfers around.
On Monday we took a detour and left the coast for the mountain town of Hogsback. Suddenly, the place names were English rather than Afrikaans (specially the British monarchy: Elizabeth, Albert, Victoria, George, etc. ), there were lots of black townships everywhere, and the road was filled with local hitchhikers, some even offering money. Hogsback is perched on top of a mountain. At 1300m over sea level, the climate was noticeably crisper. Our hotel 'The Edge' was right on the edge of the mountain overlooking a gorge covered by indigenous forest. The hotel also has the longest labyrinth in South Africa. I walked the 1.4km (all within a circumference of 91 meters) in search of inner peace. I followed the instructions: walk slowly, breathe, feel comfortable, maintain a meditative state of mind, get rid of excess thoughts... Unfortunately, I must have a lot of 'excess thoughts', whatever that means, because I wasn't more peaceful afterwards. Maybe I was expecting too much from a labyrinth. The view was really nice, though.
Later on Tuesday we drove the longest stretch of our trip, from Hogsback to Durban, back to the coast. This gave us the opportunity to stop at a rest area on the road and enjoy a Steers burger, the local McDonalds-like chain, ahh, the inexplicable joys of roadtrips. Tonight we will certainly sleep like logs. Fortunately, our hotel for the night, Roseland, is in a peaceful neighborhood. South Africa is a larger country than it looks on the map. Simon has already driven 3,000 km and counting.
Mercedes
1 comment:
I would love to see your "roadrunner" picture.
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