Garden Route Tour -- Starting in Franschoek; Cape Town and ending in Port Elizabeth. December 2019 with Peter Giddy Guided Tours.

Garden Route Tour -- A four day adventure tour starting in Franschoek; Cape Town and ending in Port Elizabeth.  December 2019 with Peter Giddy Guided Tours.

Every Garden Route tour should include a walk to the Storms River Mouth Suspension bridges.

Itinerary:
On my first day of the tour I drive from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town as I am picking my guests up in Franschoek the following day.
We start our Garden Route Tour on Thursday 23rd December 2019 from a wet rainy Franschoek.
Our tour this week takes us to the N1 and through the Heugenot Tunnel and onto the R62 to Oudtshoorn with just one stop in Montague.
In Oudtshoorn we visit the Cango Caves and overnight at the Oue Werf Guest Farm.
Our Second day is a visit to the Cango Ostrich Farm, over the Outeniqua pass and onto the N2 to George; Wilderness and Sedgefield to the Knysna Featherbed Cruise. We overnight in Plettenberg Bay. 
Our third day takes us to the Harkerville Saturday Market and Birds of Eden

 Fires near to the Gouritz River Bridge on the N2.

Tennis with Nicky; Mia and Zara.  My first time playing tennis in many years.
Wednesday 18th.  Up at 2.30am.  Leave home at 3.30am for Cape Town. One stop at Wilderness.  There are huge fires near to the Gouritz Bridge. I continue to Swellendam and over to the N1 and 8.30 hours to Nicky's house.  This afternoon we play a bit of Tennis.  My first in Many Years!

We are at the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn

 Entrance to the Caves with Brad and Marcia from Omaha.  Nebraska.  America.

 Look carefully and you should see Bushmen paintings / Stick figures.

 The Organ is a Flow Formation

Stalactites in the van Zyl chamber.  About 800 000 years old.  They grow at just a few millimeters every 100 years.
Thursday.  Pick up Brad and Marcia from Lab Hotel in Franschhoek.  It is raining when I pick them up but that is the last rain we see for the day.  We take the N1 to Worscter and then the R62 to Robertson, Ashton, Montague, Barrydale, Ladismith, Calitzdorp and Oudtshoorn by 2pm.  This give us just enough time for a Cango Caves visit at 3pm.  The Caves are busy and we are about 30 in our group.
No matter how many times I have been into the caves it is still just as impressive and I see new things every time.
We stay over at the Oue Werf guest farm which is on the road to Cango. Marianne is our host. We have wonderful rooms and a great supper of Ostrich steak and roast veg.  Malva Pudding.  A perfect end to a long day.

Friday.  We start our day with a lovely breakfast at Oue Werf.  Marianne is our host.

 Brad receives a neck rub from the ostrich.

 Marcia seems to be enjoying the sensation of the neck rub.

 Marcia and an affectionate ostrich at Cango Ostrich farm.

 Knysna Heads from the West side of Knysna

 Looking through the Heads to Rough seas.  Brad spotted a seal and then watched as it caught a fish.

Returning back to the mainland on the cruiser which was surprisingly empty..
Friday -- After breakfast we drive through the Outeniqua Pass and into George which is busy this morning.  Then through Wilderness and Sedgefield to Knysna where we book our Featherbed Cruise starting at 14.30.  We have a seafood lunch at the Waterfront.  I have a really good Hake and veg; Brad has Calamari and Marcia has 6 huge prawns.
The Featherbed Cruise guide is Mark.  He takes us across to the West peninsular and we drive up to the parking area where we use a Catapult to send some seeds over into the bush below. Hopefully some of them with germinate and we will be helping reforestation of the natural indigenous Fynbos.

 Brad and Marcia have a good long walk towards the Robberg

The beach is ideal for an end to the day.  Background is the Beacon Isle Hotel.
We overnight in Plettenberg Bay.

 Saturday morning parkrun at Harkerville. The run is on farm roads; jeep tracks and single track through the forest.  It has just one hill. 650 participants which is a record number for them.

At the Harkerville Farmers Market I opt to stand in a line for a half hour to have a Bundu Breakfast.

 R63 for all of this.  The Cappucino is R25.   What a bargain.

 Harkerville farmers market is really busy this morning.

From the Farmers Market we visit the Birds of Eden.  I opt to stay in the vehicle as my calf muscle is playing up again
Saturday morning.  Day three.
I start the morning with a parkrun at Harkerville.  We have breakfast at the Harkerville Farmers Market which is crowded with people -- especially the Bundu Breakfast of Two slices of Seed Bread; Two Eggs; 3 x Rashers of bacon; Two sausages and a Corn Fritter with as much tomato as you wish.  All the sauces and spices you wish for. And all of this for R63. We stop at Mungo Linen factory but they are not operating on Saturdays.
Then we visit the Birds of Eden freeflight bird sanctuary at the Crags.

Blaaukrans Bridge where we watch as the Jumpers bounce up and down after throwing themselves off the bridge.

 

 216m makes this one of the highest fixed jumps worldwide.

 Brad and Marcia take some pics.

 We walk to the Suspension Bridges

 Wonderful views of the Storms river emerging into the Indian Ocean

A highlight of our Garden Route tour must be looking across the Storms River Mouth to the West side from where we have walked.

Our day ends with a Braai with Brad and Marcia; Chris, Elmarie and Sasha; Bobby; John and Di; Ally, Barbara and myself.
Sunday we say goodbye to Plettenbergbay and continue our journey up the N2 to the Blaaukrans Bridge where we stop for a look at the Jumpers. Our highlight of the day is the visit to the Storms River Mouth at the Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve.  We lunch at the Pink Restaurant in Tsitsikamma village before ending the day and our Garden Route Tour, Braaiing with friends at home.

Monday 23.  We drop Brad and Marcia at the Airport and then, after a day of chores and preparation, we leave from PE for Jhb and TelAviv to visit Jacqui and her family.

Peter Giddy Guided Tours -- Shore Excursions -- Addo Elephant and other Wildlife Reserves -- Garden Route.  Flowers of Namaqualand -- 

0027 (0) 82 55 03 714    Whatsup

peter.giddy@gmail.com

• Addo Elephant Park Day Visit and Night drive. 
• Kragga Kamma Wildlife Reserve
• Daniel Cheetah Project
• Pumba; Shamwari; Amakhala; Kariega -- Day trips Private Reserves.
• City Historical and Cultural Tours, 
• Horse riding for both experienced and inexperienced riders
• 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; Knysna Elephant Park; Monkey Land and Birds of Eden; Big Cats Sanctuary; Oudtshoorn Cango Caves and Ostrich farms)
• Shore Excursions from Passengers ships
• Transfers. Airport; Hotel and Wildlife Reserve.
• 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
• Karoo to Garden Route. Six days of fun and activities.  Prince Albert; Swartberg Pass; Die Hell; Oudtshoorn; Prince Alfred pass; Plett and Tsitsikamma. 
• Wildlife Adventure in the Karoo.  Three days; Three national parks; Lions; Cheetah; Elephants; Mountain and Plains Zebra and a variety of Antelope. Visit places of historical; natural and political interest. 

Website --   petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com

For tours and bookings.. email me at.    peter.giddy@gmail.com

Contact me on Whatsup....  0027 082 550 3174