The Garden Route

Having picked up a hire car and having heard that the whales were 'late this year' we were well rewarded during a lunch overlooking the sea at Hermanus with a mother and calves close by in the bay. We then meandered down to Oudtshoorn to visit the Kanga caves and Highgate Ostrich farm. We had rather low expectations of the latter but it provided the most hilarious experience of the trip to date when Nic had a go at riding an ostrich!

 

 

 

 

No caption required!

A drive over the winding Swartberg pass to the rather quaint village of Prince Albert provided some great mountain scenery.

 

The coastal section of the Garden Route was stunning and for us one of the the highlights was a full day walk around the Robberg peninsula. 

 

Another very memorable was a day spent at Birds of Eden, the largest free flight aviary in the world. A fabulous collection of native and other colourful birds. We are definitely becoming twitchers on this trip, the binos are working overtime out in the wild and even in the gardens of some of our accommodation!

 

Golden Pheasant- Male the flashy sex!

Livingstone's Turaco

White faced Whistling duck

Crowned crane

Memories of Guinness Ads!

Malachite sunbird at Bayside Lodge!

We also squeezed in a quick visit to a monkey rescue sanctuary which helps to rehabilitate wild monkeys which have been foolishly kept as pets.

Lemur: Eyes bigger than brain!

Elvis

There were some fabulous deserted beaches nearby although sometimes the route of the proposed walks were not too obvious. At Plettenberg Bay we were also sad to say goodbye to Liz and Robert.

Last evening together!