Garden Route Tour with Peter Giddy Guided Tours.... 23rd to 26th June 2016
peter.giddy@gmail.com
- Addo Elephant Park
- Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
- Daniel Cheetah Project
- Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
- City and Cultural Tours
- Hikes and Walks around Port Elizabeth (2 hour Nature and Coastal walks)
- Garden Route Adventure Tours (Zip Lines; Segway in the Forest; Adventure Quad Biking; Bridge Walks; Bungy Jump; Walking with Elephants; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
- Shore Excursions from Passengers ships
- Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve transfers.
- Volkswagen Factory visits.
- Golfing in Port Elizabeth -- where everything is supplied.
- Flowers of Namaqualand. Seven days of adventure and exploring places and sights you never even knew existed. History and natural beauty of the South West of South Africa
Website --
petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com
For tours and bookings.. email me at. peter.giddy@gmail.com
Contact me on Whatsup.... +27 (0) 825503174
On Sunday 23rd June I pick the family up at Woodbury Tented Lodge at Amakhala Wildlife Reserve. This family is a part of a North American project called Make a Wish. Chris; Shannon; Ashley and Jocelyn are from Maryland in USA.
Woodbury Lodge -- A division of Amakhala. (place where animals live). This is 70km from Port Elizabeth.
We see huge fields of Aloe in bloom. The best time of year for Aloe.
The family is staying in the Tented Camp. Beautiful Game Drives (Safaris).
Our first stop on the Garden Route is the Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure where we all take part in the Zip lines.
First off the platform is Jocelyn. Here she is being instructed by Christiaan. Both our Guides are named Christiaan
Next Ashley takes off -- No Fear.
Shannon gives a quick scream as she slides across the river but from there on seems to love the activity
Chris is off next. He has his Go Pro which he uses to take pics all the way down river.
On the Platform for the second Slide is the whole group including both Guides (Christiaan and Christiaan)
The Kruis Rivier is flowing strongly after recent rains
Storms River Bridge. Ashley has her Make a Wish board with her.
The Storms River Bridge (Paul Sauer) built 1954 - 1956. At that time we had not yet converted to Metric System.
The Storms river Bridge built from both sides and joined at the middle.
We take the N2 past Port Elizabeth; Humansdorp and then onwards to Tsitsikamma where we make our first stop at the Tsitsikamma Falls Zip Line adventure. This is a great activity and something that goes down well with all age groups. There are 8 lines crossing the Kruis Rivier. Today the river is flowing strongly and the waterfalls look quite spectacular.
The Blauwkrans Bridge is where we stop for a brief look at the Bungy Jumpers. There are only a few people jumping so we are fortunate to see a couple of jumps.
We arrive at Tsala Lodge just after 4pm and meet up with Karin.
After the Zip Lining we stop off at the Storms River Bridge and the Bungy Jumping for a quick look see. Blauwkrans Bridge is our last stop of the day before we end our day at Tsala Lodges where the family has a Villa booked for the next three days. Karin meets us at Tsala and the family have a wonderful Burger evening in their lodge.
I stay at Hill House in Plett. I buy some provisions at the Spar and catch up on Admin.
Our second day on the Garden Route tour takes us to the boardwalk in the forest and over to the Storms river Mouth.
The suspension Bridge at Storms river Mouth with Jocelyn and Ashley.
The cove where we look for some drift wood
The Suspension bridge was first built in 1969 and has been rebuilt twice since then -- 1996 and 2006.
The second two suspension bridges were built in 2009.
We find the Instruction board with information about The Gondwana Super Continent. Gondwana began to break up during the Jurassic Period (About 167 Million years ago)
Monday 24th June 2019.
Our second day together. Pick up from Tsala Lodge at 9am and drive back eastwards on the N2 to the Tsitsikamma National Park and Storms River Mouth. Here we walk on the boardwalk along the forest pathway overlooking the Indian Ocean to the Storms River Mouth and Suspension Bridges. There are a couple of Paddlers who will be enjoying an upstream Paddle and Lilo experience. We cross the bridge to the cove on the East side of the river where we explore and find some odd pieces of driftwood for "Grandmother back home". This is a beautiful place to enjoy a time out. It is still a little early in the morning and the sun has not moved far enough westwards to warm us up yet. Walk back over the Storms River and then onto the two newer bridges. Up the long set of steps to the Forest Walk and then back the the Restaurant Area. We continue our day with a Segway adventure. I am told later by Jocelyn that this is the activity that they enjoyed the most. This gives the younger group an opportunity to be in control of a vehicle. The forest road is rough and so handling the Segway becomes a skill and adventure.
Our second stop on day two of our Garden Route Tour is to take part in the Forest Segway in Tsitsikamma Village. Both Jocelyn and Ashley will tell you that this was a great day as they were able to Zoom around on the Segway on bumpy off road tracks.
Jocelyn soon got the hang of this and set off within minutes.
Shannon gave her usual cry out before setting off confidently.
The training ground before continuing on the track
After the Segway we stop off in Plett at the Monkeyland where we are met by Deborah who is also from North America (New York) and volunteering here for 3 months. She appears to be passionate about these primates and passes on her knowledge and interest. It seems that this is part of her thesis for her studies at home.
Deborah and the family at Monkeyland - Plettenberg Bay
Monkey toys which the Children seemed to enjoy.
The Entrance to Monkeyland gives an idea of the variety of primates that you can expect to see. This facility offers an with a fully trained guide
Beacon Isle beach and the Lookout rocks. Children being children as they leap from rock to rock completely fearlessly.
Dinner is at Toby's ... We enjoy the lovely views across the beach and the surfers on the right.
We take a walk on the BI beach to the Rocks where I come across Hugh Glover. He is delighted to meet the American Family and has a chat with them as well. We decide to have an early supper at Tobys -- Fish and Chips and Spaghetti are the orders of the evening. As always the dinner is substantial and pleasing both to adults and children alike. While sitting at the table we are able to enjoy the approach of evening and the last of the surfers on the waves below the Beacon Isle Hotel.
Day three of our Garden Route Tour. At Birds of Eden. Jocelyn. Shannon and Ashley at the Waterfall in the Birds of Eden.
Two of the Golden Pheasants running around on the ground
We found a couple of Blue Duiker. This is the smallest Antelope in South Africa.
The Knysna Loerie is now known as Turaco. A colourful bird with Red wings that can only be seen as it glides from tree to tree. Mainly it tends to hop from branch to branch.
Black Eyed Susan.
Tuesday 25th. Pick up again at 9am and we drive back past Plett and onto the Birds of Eden. It has rained during the past few days so the walkways are damp. We are hardly through the entrance when we start to see some really interesting and exotic birds. One of the birds which is both colourful and not too shy is the Golden Pheasant from Asia. We see Knysna Loerie; Red Ibis; Sacred Ibis and Hadeda Ibis. There are all kinds of Parrots and Parakeets. Some are so tame that they come right up to us for a scratch on the back.
We also see a couple of Blue Duiker below the walkways. This is a wonderful facility where we walk in the canopy right next to the birds as they swoop past us. Too many variety to name them all.
We visit the Mungo Factory where we see the Lancashire Looms which were originally powered by Water or Steam. These were the mainstay of the Cotton Industry for 100 years. Later the Ruti Looms were used which were more automated and a single operator could manage over 30 looms at once. Mungo still uses both looms in their operation and these contribute to the production of Linen in the factory. Interesting to watch as the Shuttle Zooms from side to side.
Mungo Retail shop
After the Birds experience we stop at Mungo's Linen Factory. This is an interesting place to visit as you can see the Looms in action as well as the seamstresses as they cut and sew the sheets of Linen into usable household units which are then sold through the Mungo Retail shop next door.
In this area are a number of craft and art shops as well as a restaurant.
Day Three of our Garden Route Tour. A real highlight is the Featherbed Cruise and Hike. Here we stop for lunch before continuing across the Lagoon to the Western Peninsular of Knysna
Lunch of steaks; Pasta; Fish and fresh vegetables.
Dessert was a Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream.
On the "Spirit of Knysna"where Selby is our guide; Craig took us around; John was the skipper and Sam the Safety officer.
On the western peninsular we climb onto these brand new Mercedes Benz trucks to be taken up the concrete pathway.
Looking across the Knysna Heads in an Easterly direction.
Martin Hatchuel has been appointed to try to restore the natural flora of the Western Peninsular of Knysna. He has appointed Sampson and a team of 15 men to remove the alien Rooikrans and here is he is planting an indigenous Milkwood.
Ashley does the honours as she places the new sapling into the ground assisted by Sampson. They put some Compost and Sugar (A ball substance that retains water and makes sure that the tree has a continuous supply of moisture).
Ashley and Sampson as they cross swords.
Craig is an entemologist and has a love for insects. He describes the indigenous plant life in detail.
In the cave Craig shows the group a Songololo or Millipede.
The caves looking across to the Eastern Heads.
this is a Cobra Lily. But I cannot distinguish this from a Gladiolus.
Gladiolus ... Looks to me like a Cobra Lily.
Gladiolus in flower.
The Milkwood. Their trunks will often fold and twist. They grow to over 100 years old.
The leaf of the Milkwood is broad and tough.
The Pigs Ear. A big fat leaf which gives the plant its name
The leaf of the Pigs ear.
Outeniqua Yellowwood which we would see again the following day as we visit the Big Tree of the Tsitsikamma forest.
at the end of our walk we are surprised with an Ice Cream Cake made by this lady. Simply delicious.
The highlight of the four days for me is yet to come. The Featherbed restaurant and cruise ending with a hike on the western peninsular of the Knysna lagoon. We learned so much about the peninsular.
After the Cruise and hike we return to the Tsala Lodge for the last night of the holiday.
Breakfast at Tsala ... They give me a Cappuccino to take in the car. This breakfast spread looks just amazing
The entrance to Tsala says it all.
Jocelyn; Karin and Ashley.
We stop at the Tsitsikamma Big Tree for a short walk and looksee. The authorities are building an enormous building and entrance facility to this viewsite. Personally I think that it is completely over the top and unnecessary. For many years our family would stop and take a walk on an old dirt pathway to look at this huge Outeniqua Yellowwood tree. Now there is a boardwalk; a fallen tree; the Ratel Trail and little else. So why they feel that they need this elaborate structure and entrance, is beyond my understanding. But time will tell if their investment was worthwhile.
The girls looking up at this giant of the forest. There are a couple of big trees in this area but this one is the biggest.
The notice board which warns you, a long time after you have "Alighted from your vehicle" that you have done so "
Interely at your own risk". I think that this notice board is
Entirely inappropriate.
And so our Garden Route tour ends. I take the family back to Port Elizabeth where they catch a flight to Johannesburg and then back to Maryland in North America.
Day Four. I pick up the family from Tsala Lodge. We say goodbye to Karin. And we drive eastwards back to Port Elizabeth. On the way back we stop at the Big Tree of the Tsitsikamma Forest.
peter.giddy@gmail.com
- Addo Elephant Park
- Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
- Daniel Cheetah Project
- Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
- City and Cultural Tours
- Hikes and Walks around Port Elizabeth (2 hour Nature and Coastal walks)
- Garden Route Adventure Tours (Zip Lines; Segway in the Forest; Adventure Quad Biking; Bridge Walks; Bungy Jump; Walking with Elephants; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
- Shore Excursions from Passengers ships
- Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve transfers.
- Volkswagen Factory visits.
- Golfing in Port Elizabeth -- where everything is supplied.
- Flowers of Namaqualand. Seven days of adventure and exploring places and sights you never even knew existed. History and natural beauty of the South West of South Africa
Website --
petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com
For tours and bookings.. email me at. peter.giddy@gmail.com
Contact me on Whatsup.... +27 (0) 825503174
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