My three favorite flowers are aloes, proteas and arum lilies. All flowers you can see in gardens and parks but at their most beautiful when you see them out in the wild. Aloe flowering in the Karoo, proteas in the Fynbos on a mountain side and lilies growing wild in the forest. This lily I found next to the path on the way to Kerneels se Klip in the Tsitsikamma National Park. I was hoping to find one in the sun…
The Otter Trail is probably South Africa's premier hiking trail covering 5 days and 42 kilometers between the Tsitsikamma National Park at Storms River and Nature's Valley. On the last day when hikers reach The Point, the end of the trail is in sight but not before descending down to Nature's Valley beach and then walking the length of it to the Nature's Valley Restaurant and Trading Store to kick off their shoes and have a welcome cold one.During our Sho't Left…
I used to travel down the Garden Route quite often while I was still tour guiding but these days don't often get a chance to go further than the Tsitsikamma. Driving down to Natures Valley on our recent Easter weekend Sho't Left in the area I had to stop at one of the view points on the way down on the Grootrivier Pass. Its not a view point as much as it's a tree point. The view is of a little…
I just noticed this lone picture sitting in a file and realised that it is one from our recent visit to the Tsitsikamma that I forgot to upload. Its a panoramic picture taken from the eastern side of Storms River Mouth shows the three suspension bridges in the background.
The Garden Route has many spectacular adventures that just about anybody can participate it. One of these is paddling up the magnificent Storms River gorge, starting at the suspension bridges over the river mouth. Just imagine the sheer cliffs of the gorge stretching up 100 meters on each side while leisurely paddling along. I seriously need to see if I can organise this trip for myself. I would love to do it.
At first Drama Princess was a bit scared of crossing the three suspension bridges at Storms River Mouth but after going one way hanging onto me she was brave enough to walk back on her own.
Storms River Mouth is truly spectacular. Over millions of years the river has carved a deep gorge down to the ocean and thus creates a very striking river mouth. It's this spot that are reached by taking the one kilometre Mouth Trail from the Tsitsikamma National Park's main rest camp. Over the years the suspension bridge over the river mouth has become a main feature in the park and pictures of it has become synonymous with Storms River Mouth. In 2007 a fire…
I can never rave enough on how awesome the Tsitsikamma National Park. Its an absolutely beautiful place and the amount of visitors, both domestic and international, that go there daily is proof that its one place you cannot miss when travelling along the Garden Route. Most of these visitors do the Mouth Trail from the rest camp to the Storms River Mouth which is one kilometer away.One of my personal highlights of the walk is the stream that flows past…
I know that not everybody loves arum lilies like I do, but I just can't get enough of them specially when they grow wild somewhere in a forest or next to a stream. This one was growing next to the Storms River Mouth Trail in the Tsitsikamma National Park.
The first part of our walk through the Plaatbos Nature Reserve took us on various trails through the forest before taking a halfway break next to the Storms River by the old low water bridge. This left us with the walk back up to the village on the Storms River Pass. In 1879 the famous pass builder Thomas Bain was busy surveying the area east of Plettenberg Bay and found it to consist of almost impenetrable forests and deep river gorges. To get…