Going somewhere
It’s been far too long since we had a good holiday, and even longer since we enjoyed a road trip. It hasn’t really been a lockdown thing … rather, we were involved in upgrades and improvements to the homestead in Durban.
Both sons have (very recently) flown the nest and we’ve just been rattling around in the Big House. LOL!
Anyway, it’s my mom’s 70th birthday this year. She has recently relocated to George, and direct flights from Durbs are non-existent at the moment. Se we saw an opportunity for a road trip and began to plan our escape!
We decided to take a slow drive to the Western Cape, and also fit in a visit to our firstborn in Muizenberg.
We chose a different route this time – taking us up through the Free State, and then down through the Karoo to George in the Garden Route, Western Cape.
We prepared for colder temperatures – socks, gloves and blankets by Heat Holders were bought in anticipation of some chilly nights.
Our first stop was in Bloemfontein. Looking at the overnight temperatures, we wisely decided that camping was not a great idea, since the canvas tent of our Skipper – though quite secure in wind and rain – afforded very little protection from the cold air outside. Airbnb connected us with Superhost Justyn, whose “Driveway” proved to be a good choice. Conveniently close to the N1, but quiet and secure, we were warm and toasty in his comfortable guestroom.
A taste of the Karoo
Since we would be passing through the Beaufort West area, a visit to the Karoo National Park was a must. We booked 2 nights so that we would have a day to explore the park. This short visit convinced us of two things:
1. we need to have longer visits in all our National Parks, and
2. we need a vehicle better suited to the 4×4 routes where all the interesting animals are hiding.
James has been doing some research into suitable budget-friendly vehicles, and we think we’ve narrowed things down. A topic for another post, methinks.
The “other KNP” is beautiful, in its own way. We were surprised and delighted at the diversity of life that lives and thrives in this vast and unforgiving landscape that is The Great Karoo.
We took an early morning drive up Klipspringer Pass – a winding tarred route up into the hills, which gave an enticing view over the dusty tracks below. With the day ahead of us, we enjoyed a walk on the trails around the camp area and marvelled at the fascinating pre-history of the Karoo displayed in the Fossil Trail exhibits.
My favourite discovery was an “ancient dachshund” – Diictodon with its short legs and long body was probably not as cute as a modern sausage dog, though 🙂
Animals we saw included: Black Backed Jackal (or possibly Cape Fox – they were too fast for our binoculars), Cape Mountain Zebra, Klipspringer, Kudu, Red hartebeest, Gemsbok, one of the hare/rabbit species, Steenbok.
Far South
The purpose of this roadtrip was to celebrate mom’s birthday in George. But George is less than 5 hours drive from Cape Town, where our eldest son has recently moved. And since we were coming all this way, why not drive a little further … lol!
We would be staying at Dan & Tay’s place in Muizenberg for a few days, so we opted to leave Baloo (the Skipper) at mom’s home in George, and then take a leisurely drive to Cape Town. We booked a night at Struispret, hosted by Christa in Struisbaai. On arrival, Christa gave us an informative “virtual tour” of the area and its history, with the help of hubby Nick’s artful photography.
George to Struisbaai directly will take just over 3 hours, but with stops along the route to see Stillbaai, Arniston and Cape Agulhas, it took us most of the day.
Our second day of the George to Cape Town drive took us through Elim (established in 1824 by German missionaries as a Moravian mission station), Gansbaai, Stanford, Hermanus (where I left my heart!!!), Betty’s Bay, and Pringle Bay before we arrived in Muizenberg.
Look out for photos and a bit more detail in our next post!