garden route

[dustbuster]

Hi Guys

I took the plunge and got married two weeks ago
so am planning of doing a road trip in the Terios down to Cape Town for a honeymoon trip from the 19th till the 2nd.

Planning on doing the garden route on the way down and then driving back over two days through bloem on the way back to natal.

Our holiday is going to be a bit of camping and one or two self-catering places and some lodges.

please can you guys recommend some places so stay and things to do hikes, fishing spots(have to on a honeymoon) looking for some nice camping spots and self catering places as well.

Plans are to leave Richards bay then drive to kokstad stay the night there jump on the road early on Sunday the 20th to try miss the heavy's and get to East London we will stay on or two night there with friends them make our way down to cape town..... from there no plans

[Mud Dog]

Congrats Dean!

Why Kokstad? The natal south coast is much nicer (Shepstone or Margate), but I suppose it's only to sleep the night, no sight seeing, just a place to kip.

The Wild coast is beautiful and scenic, but that's a separate trip on it's own and it's something you can do at another time quite easily from Richards Bay, so the E.L. stop makes sense besides having friends to visit. Where will you be staying in EL, a short hook-up would be nice if you have the time.

Not sure how much time you have but P.E. is just a three hour trip from E.L. without stops, and Port Alfred is exactly halfway between. P.A. is a scenic little place with the longest navigable river along the eastern seaboard of SA (AFAIK) but a trip up and down would take a few hours. Have a look here

Bathurst is an historical village with the oldest pub in SA, set in pineapple country that might be an interesting little detour. Other scenic areas along the coast to PE are mentioned in the link above.

PE itself is great, but just another big city but Addo Elephant Park (Sanparks) is just a little before PE and worth a visit. They have camp sites as well if you plan to sleep over there. (http://www.sanparks.org/parks/addo/tourism/map.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

On past PE, Jeffrey's Bay is a surfer's paradise just off the N2 ( http://www.jeffreysbaytourism.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) ... might be worth a quick detour.

Tsitsikama Forest Park (Sanparks) at Stormsriver is another nice place to camp over and a zip-line excursion down through the forests and over the gorges is an exhilarating experience. ( http://stormsriver.com/canopy_tour_tree ... route.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) ( http://www.adventureactivities.co.za/zipline.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
You can do a Bungee at the Bloukrans pass a few clicks further down the N2 - Highest commercial bridge-jump bungee in the world. (http://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Attraction ... _Cape.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Natures Valley, Plettenberg Bay and particularly Knysna are beautiful areas to to wander about a bit but accommodation may be pricey, even camping, so the wilderness lake area between Sedgefield and Wilderness might be a better option with camp sites available ( http://www.places.co.za/accommodation/w ... -park.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )
The ultra-scenic mountain pass circular day drive which includes the Outeniqua pass might also interest you ( http://www.discover-sedgefield-south-af ... asses.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ).

Guys from the specific areas could perhaps advise better and after that, the guys from George and beyond could advise further.

[Thabogrobler]

Tsitsikama is a must!!

Drive all the way down to the restaurant/shop and walk around to the beach - amazing!

[dustbuster]

Thanks Andy

We go down the South Coast often the in-laws have a cottage at Leisure Bay, and they willl be there on our way down so we will be stopping off there for 2 nights instead of Kokstad, then leave straight to East London for one night.
My father in-law grew up in the Transkie and they also have a cottage at the Haven (Dwesa reserve) so we go there most holidays,
so going to give the wild coast a skip.


Will spend two nights in Port Alfred would like to canoe up the Kap river & have a beer at that pub , then think we will go to Addo Elephant park, then somewhere near storms river then Knysna

Will keep you updated on the progress

[Obelix and Dogmatix]

Black water tubing also a must, I believe it is the same crowd that does the zip lines canopy tours.

Also an interesting spot to spend an morning/afternoon is the monkey sanctuary between Plett and Kynsna, a haven for rehabilitated animals taken from private owners. a lot of exotic primate that you would spend thousands to see otherwise.

[dustbuster]

Okay so have most of my accommodation sorted

from east London we will go to Kap nature reserve for a night( going to canoe up the kap river as Andy suggested) staying in a rustic xhosa hut for the night.

Then to Addo elephant park for 2 nights in a chalet, after that will spend two nights camping at storms river mouth hope it does not rain

after camping we will head of to ebb & flow rest camp where we have a rondawel for the night, we will have one last night at De hoop reserve in a chalet.

then to Cape town for 3 nights where we will stay with family.

now to find some things to do on the route.

[Mud Dog]

Okay so have most of my accommodation sorted

from east London we will go to Kap nature reserve for a night( going to canoe up the kap river as Andy suggested) staying in a rustic xhosa hut for the night.

Then to Addo elephant park for 2 nights in a chalet, after that will spend two nights camping at storms river mouth hope it does not rain

after camping we will head of to ebb & flow rest camp where we have a rondawel for the night, we will have one last night at De hoop reserve in a chalet.

then to Cape town for 3 nights where we will stay with family.

now to find some things to do on the route.

Are you forgetting that this is (according to yourself) a honeymoon trip! :wth:

[dustbuster]

Beer more beer, wine and a few glass of sherry
bit of fishing, a bungee jump, tubing down a river

sounds like a perfect honeymoon

[Haboob]

After Addo do Patensie (Baviaanskloof) through to Goerge area. Storms River is also a nice area through the Garden Route...

[dustbuster]

After Addo do Patensie (Baviaanskloof) through to Goerge area. Storms River is also a nice area through the Garden Route...

will add this in on my route to storms river

Thanks

[Mud Dog]

Nah, I'd do the garden route and leave Baviaans out this time. Baviaans is too good to rush through it, ... one needs 2-3 days to do a reasonably decent Baviaanskloof excursion. Perhaps on the way back from the Uniondale side if time allows, otherwise I'd plan it as a completely separate trip.

[dustbuster]

EISH I see what you mean been looking on Tracks for Africa that looks amazing will want to do it on anther trip maybe in December after a stop of in the Transkei do you need a 4x4 or will the Terios do okay?

[Mud Dog]

Better with 4x4 and although the Terios is 4x4 it doesn't have low-range. You would be able to do most of it with the Terios, also, some of those little "side tracks" that are 4x4 only can be more than a bit of a challenge for a SUV without low-range and ground clearance.

It's been quite a number of years since I've last been (that needs to be rectified) and maybe things have changed, so some of the guys that have been more recently could perhaps elaborate.

[Mud Dog]

I was just having a quick look out of interest sake and went straight to this site which appears to be very informative.

Two important points that I picked up on with just a quick cursory read is that there is no more fuel available in the kloof between Patensie and Willomore :wth: and that there was some significant road erosion in places due to rains early this year. Looks like the Lux would definitely be the better option, also for load space to carry a couple of jerry cans with spare fuel.

[Thabogrobler]

Tell me,

On your honeymoon, what can you do in an exotic place that you can't do in a tent in the back garden at your mother in law's???