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Tourism in South Africa isn’t just for international visitors but also for locals.  Yes there are places that most locals would never be able to afford to visit, but there are more places that are affordable to visit and even more things that you can do that actually doesn’t cost you anything.  South African Tourism encourages locals to travel through their Sho’t Left campaign.  “Sho’t Left” is derived from everyday South African “taxi lingo” where a commuter wanting a ride to a destination close by will say, “Sho’t left, driva!” – meaning, I want to jump off just around the corner.  So a Sho’t Left excursion or holiday would be seen as a short affordable holiday not too far from home.

Over the Easter long weekend we decided to take do a four night camping holiday – our Easter Sho’t Left – at the Tsitsikamma Sunrise Caravan Park between the Crags and Natures Valley.  Except for the R320 per night for the camp site the experiences we had cost us nothing except for the petrol to get down into Natures Valley.  We Geocached, climbed the Point (also the last bit of the renown Otter Trail) east of Natures Valley, hiked to the Salt River Mouth west of the village and spend lots of time in the Groot River Lagoon.  Across the road from the camp site is Natures Way Farm Stall, situated on a commercial dairy farm.  We got to see how they milked the cows every afternoon (at no cost), the kids got some hands on experience with the milking process, feed the calves and on the last evening actually got to see a calf being born.  Priceless experiences that didn’t have my wallet heaving.

 

As soon as I get a chance to edit pictures, upload them and write something I will post about all of these wonderful experiences we had at Natures Valley.