Cape Town and Garden route trip report part 1 CT
Jan 10th, 2007, 05:35 AM
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Cape Town and Garden route trip report part 1 CT
I want to preface this report with a disclaimer. I was born and raised in Cape Town but left in 1977 and last visited in 88. Much of my evenings in Cape Town were taken up by visiting friends and relatives, so I was not able to do as much as I wanted. Also trying to accommodate a 16 yr old son and 75 yr old mother can be a challenge. I’ve tried to separate my feelings as an ex South African returning after almost 20 years.
Basic Itinerary.
8 nights Cape Town , then 1 night Mossel Bay, 1 night Storms River Mouth, 2 nights Addo, 1 night Oudtshoorn, 2 nights Cape Town.
Cape Town
We stayed on London Road in a self catering in the Pall Mall building.
http://www.safarinow.com/go/CapeTownSeaPointBeachRd/. Very nice apartment, clean with everything you could need supplied. I was a bit nervous being so close to the main road, but I got over it soon enough. Early evenings can be a bit noisy but it quiets down later.
I highly recommend it.
Ate at the “Lions Head Inn” on Main Rd at the top of London Rd, Great food, cheap prices. It is next to Aardvark Backpackers and is owned by the same people.
Also ate at “Café Paradiso”?? in Tamboers Kloof, very overrated, so- so food, very slow service. Also had lunch at "New York Bagel Deli"? in Sea point, a fun place for a light meal.
Generally service at restaurants seemed very slow, always give yourself at least an extra hour if you have something planned after your meal, or you might have to skip it and dash!
If Robben Island is in your plans go on your first morning and book, don’t rely on e-mail.
Then if you’re lucky the Ferry will run on the day you booked. (Ours did not the first time). If you need to re-book don’t believe anything anyone tells you until you talk to the lady at the booking desk!
Table Mountain. It took us 3 tries before we finally made it. Make your plans flexible, the rule in CT is, go up the mountain on your first opportunity, as it may not be possible for the rest of your stay. Tip, if you have a disabled person with you, ask the attendants for help, you can park right at the station and take an elevator (lift) to the cable car.
Curio Shopping, the guys along the roads, especially near Hout Bay are probably the Cheapest, not sure how legal though? On Main Rd Sea Point (near St Johns Rd) the “Funky Monkey” is a curio store with very good prices. The Sunday market at the Green Point Stadium is great, get there at 8:00 to 8:30 and bargain hard, many of the sellers believe that if the 1st customer of the day buys they will have a good day!
Driving, once I got used to driving on the “wrong “ side, CT is very easy to drive in, All attractions and roads are very well signposted.
Day trip to Cape Point via Boulders to see the Penguins. Ate lunch at “Berthas” in Simonstown, on the waterfront, very good food, a bit pricy by SA standards and again, very slow service. Also stopped at the “Scratch Patch, good fun for kids or even adults interested in semi precious stones.
Afternoon trip to Stellenbosch. Tasted wine at Boschendal, drove around a bit then to dinner at Moyo at Spier. This was probably the most memorable evening of the whole trip. If you can get there do not hesitate. The only way I can think of describing it , is that what “Cirque Du Solleil” did to circuses, Moyo did to restaurants! Book a tree house if available.
Last 2 nights in CT stayed in Bantry Bay at the “Bantry Bay guest House”
http://www.bootsnall.com/hostels/d/9...Guesthouse.php
Ed , the owner is a very friendly and accommodating guy. With 2 rooms booked we basically had the place to ourselves. Very quiet street with easy access to everything, again – highly recommended.
I will post the Garden Route part next
Basic Itinerary.
8 nights Cape Town , then 1 night Mossel Bay, 1 night Storms River Mouth, 2 nights Addo, 1 night Oudtshoorn, 2 nights Cape Town.
Cape Town
We stayed on London Road in a self catering in the Pall Mall building.
http://www.safarinow.com/go/CapeTownSeaPointBeachRd/. Very nice apartment, clean with everything you could need supplied. I was a bit nervous being so close to the main road, but I got over it soon enough. Early evenings can be a bit noisy but it quiets down later.
I highly recommend it.
Ate at the “Lions Head Inn” on Main Rd at the top of London Rd, Great food, cheap prices. It is next to Aardvark Backpackers and is owned by the same people.
Also ate at “Café Paradiso”?? in Tamboers Kloof, very overrated, so- so food, very slow service. Also had lunch at "New York Bagel Deli"? in Sea point, a fun place for a light meal.
Generally service at restaurants seemed very slow, always give yourself at least an extra hour if you have something planned after your meal, or you might have to skip it and dash!
If Robben Island is in your plans go on your first morning and book, don’t rely on e-mail.
Then if you’re lucky the Ferry will run on the day you booked. (Ours did not the first time). If you need to re-book don’t believe anything anyone tells you until you talk to the lady at the booking desk!
Table Mountain. It took us 3 tries before we finally made it. Make your plans flexible, the rule in CT is, go up the mountain on your first opportunity, as it may not be possible for the rest of your stay. Tip, if you have a disabled person with you, ask the attendants for help, you can park right at the station and take an elevator (lift) to the cable car.
Curio Shopping, the guys along the roads, especially near Hout Bay are probably the Cheapest, not sure how legal though? On Main Rd Sea Point (near St Johns Rd) the “Funky Monkey” is a curio store with very good prices. The Sunday market at the Green Point Stadium is great, get there at 8:00 to 8:30 and bargain hard, many of the sellers believe that if the 1st customer of the day buys they will have a good day!
Driving, once I got used to driving on the “wrong “ side, CT is very easy to drive in, All attractions and roads are very well signposted.
Day trip to Cape Point via Boulders to see the Penguins. Ate lunch at “Berthas” in Simonstown, on the waterfront, very good food, a bit pricy by SA standards and again, very slow service. Also stopped at the “Scratch Patch, good fun for kids or even adults interested in semi precious stones.
Afternoon trip to Stellenbosch. Tasted wine at Boschendal, drove around a bit then to dinner at Moyo at Spier. This was probably the most memorable evening of the whole trip. If you can get there do not hesitate. The only way I can think of describing it , is that what “Cirque Du Solleil” did to circuses, Moyo did to restaurants! Book a tree house if available.
Last 2 nights in CT stayed in Bantry Bay at the “Bantry Bay guest House”
http://www.bootsnall.com/hostels/d/9...Guesthouse.php
Ed , the owner is a very friendly and accommodating guy. With 2 rooms booked we basically had the place to ourselves. Very quiet street with easy access to everything, again – highly recommended.
I will post the Garden Route part next
Jan 11th, 2007, 12:48 AM
#2
Hi, Shmulb,
Thanks for the very interesting report so far. the tip abpout gonig up TM as soon as you can is a good one i think.
We are very close to booking a 2 week trip to S. Africa next july - Cape town to port elizabeth - so I'm waiting for the Garden route bit with baited breath.
Keep up the good work!
Best wishes,
Ann
Thanks for the very interesting report so far. the tip abpout gonig up TM as soon as you can is a good one i think.
We are very close to booking a 2 week trip to S. Africa next july - Cape town to port elizabeth - so I'm waiting for the Garden route bit with baited breath.
Keep up the good work!
Best wishes,
Ann
Jan 11th, 2007, 05:25 AM
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Part 2 Garden Route
The drive to Mossel bay via N2 is an easy drive but pretty boring. Some nice farm stalls and small restaurants on the way to have lunch at. Stayed at the “Mossel Bay Backpackers “ Hostel. http://www.safarinow.com/go/mbaybackpackers/. A basic but comfortable backpacker’s hostel. Very helpful and energetic staff. The same property also has a more upscale Guest house “Huijs te Marquette”.
Santos Beach is good for kids, very calm water. Ate Dinner at the restaurant on the beach (Christmas Eve). OK food.
.Following morning we went Sand Surfing near Mossel Bay, good fun but very strenuous! I think next time though I will bypass Mossel Bay for another town.
Continued on to Wilderness Beach. It is a bit difficult to find your way onto the beach with all the houses lining it, very different from what I remember. Still a beautiful beach though, but with rough surf, so be careful.
Stopped in Knysna to have lunch and see the heads, then on to the Bloukranz River Bridge to watch suicidal adrenalin junkies Bungy Jumping, not for me! My wife did the Zip line slide though and enjoyed it.
I remember the garden route before the Bloukranz Bridge, I believe if you follow the R102 instead of the Toll road, the scenery is better, but maybe one of the locals can confirm this
Then on to the Storms River Mouth for the night.
I think that this park is probably one of the most beautiful places in SA. I wish I could have had 3 nights there and used it as a base for exploration. We stayed in Cabin 14, good location just before the restaurant. In the early morning, we walked to the suspension bridge, it is a good 30 minute walk and fairly strenuous at times. We wanted to do the boat tour up the river after breakfast, but then we found out that we would have to walk back to the bridge!
After leaving the park we stopped at “Monkeyland” before heading on to Addo. It is a neat place, especially for kids, Take the guided tour well worth the time. I would have liked to visit the adjacent World of Birds but we did not have time.
Made one mistake on the way to Addo – we decided no to go through PE but turned off the N2 and went via Uitehage, big mistake, this probably added at least 1 hour to the trip.
Be very careful on the Addo road, like the sign says, It’s the pothole capital of SA.
Although Addo is obviously not Kruger, it is definitely worth a visit. We did the early morning game drive to get some insight from rangers before exploring on our own. Later on we took a Hop On Guide, also very good. You get the freedom to go where you want to with the expertise of a guide on board.
We saw a lot of game including a far of glimpse of lions. The lighted waterhole near the restaurant is good, if game comes, then follow the path to the Hide, you are then within about 20 meters of the waterhole.
Photography at Addo – I used a 70 -300mm on a Nikon D50 giving an effective 450mm. Ok for most shots but I really felt I would have done much better with a 500 - 600mm, especially for birds. Although I had a small travel tripod it was a pain to use. Most of the time I used a “Kinesis” beanbag filled with about 3kg of rice. With the engine shut off that gave me a stable base.
After a second night at Addo we left early for Oudtshoorn. We backtracked on the N2 (this time via PE) as far as Humansdorp, then took the R62 towards Oudtshoorn.
This is a very picturesque road, a landscape photographers dream. Although you cannot drive as fast as on the N2 traffic was very light, sometimes we did not see another car for 10 minutes.
In Oudtshoorn we stayed at the NA Smit holiday resort. 3 thumbs down, a very grimy and outdated place, not at all pleasant.
As it was early afternoon we decided to go to the Cango caves first. I wish I had known how busy they are this time of year. The first available tour was in 3 hours, so we gave it a miss. Stopped for lunch on the road back to Oudtshoorn at a place called the Oude Muele (old mill). Very nice lunch on an interesting looking farm, they have guest rooms also and it looks like a nice place to stay. Went to the Cango Ostrich Farm on the same road, it’s not as sophisticated (from what I remember) as Safari or Highgate but an interesting tour nevertheless. Also stopped at the Cango Wildlife Ranch. Again, this is more of a place for kids, but the cheetah and lion section is interesting. My son did the “Crocodile cage” dive, he really enjoyed that. Just outside Oudtshoorn on the road to the caves is a roadside curio shop. Their prices seemed low compared to what we had seen elsewhere and they had some different things from most places.
Ate that night at “Friedls” in town, very good food and reasonable prices.
Returned early the next morning to CT, continuing on the R62. It is a beautiful drive
But unfortunately it was raining that day so we could not enjoy it as much, One could easily make this part a full day excursion stopping on the way.
Driving and Times. Most South Africans seem to judge time between places based on driving at or above the speed limit and not stopping at all. I found that most drives were actually 1 -2 hours more than I had been told.
Parking – We looked at the “Parking Guards” as a plus, where else will you find someone waving at you to show you an open space and then help guide you in or stop traffic when you leave?
Despite the skepticism of family and friends, we found most people to be very helpful and friendly. We did not have to deal with much of the bureaucracy involved in day to day living, but all of SA seems very attuned to tourist needs.
The drive to Mossel bay via N2 is an easy drive but pretty boring. Some nice farm stalls and small restaurants on the way to have lunch at. Stayed at the “Mossel Bay Backpackers “ Hostel. http://www.safarinow.com/go/mbaybackpackers/. A basic but comfortable backpacker’s hostel. Very helpful and energetic staff. The same property also has a more upscale Guest house “Huijs te Marquette”.
Santos Beach is good for kids, very calm water. Ate Dinner at the restaurant on the beach (Christmas Eve). OK food.
.Following morning we went Sand Surfing near Mossel Bay, good fun but very strenuous! I think next time though I will bypass Mossel Bay for another town.
Continued on to Wilderness Beach. It is a bit difficult to find your way onto the beach with all the houses lining it, very different from what I remember. Still a beautiful beach though, but with rough surf, so be careful.
Stopped in Knysna to have lunch and see the heads, then on to the Bloukranz River Bridge to watch suicidal adrenalin junkies Bungy Jumping, not for me! My wife did the Zip line slide though and enjoyed it.
I remember the garden route before the Bloukranz Bridge, I believe if you follow the R102 instead of the Toll road, the scenery is better, but maybe one of the locals can confirm this
Then on to the Storms River Mouth for the night.
I think that this park is probably one of the most beautiful places in SA. I wish I could have had 3 nights there and used it as a base for exploration. We stayed in Cabin 14, good location just before the restaurant. In the early morning, we walked to the suspension bridge, it is a good 30 minute walk and fairly strenuous at times. We wanted to do the boat tour up the river after breakfast, but then we found out that we would have to walk back to the bridge!
After leaving the park we stopped at “Monkeyland” before heading on to Addo. It is a neat place, especially for kids, Take the guided tour well worth the time. I would have liked to visit the adjacent World of Birds but we did not have time.
Made one mistake on the way to Addo – we decided no to go through PE but turned off the N2 and went via Uitehage, big mistake, this probably added at least 1 hour to the trip.
Be very careful on the Addo road, like the sign says, It’s the pothole capital of SA.
Although Addo is obviously not Kruger, it is definitely worth a visit. We did the early morning game drive to get some insight from rangers before exploring on our own. Later on we took a Hop On Guide, also very good. You get the freedom to go where you want to with the expertise of a guide on board.
We saw a lot of game including a far of glimpse of lions. The lighted waterhole near the restaurant is good, if game comes, then follow the path to the Hide, you are then within about 20 meters of the waterhole.
Photography at Addo – I used a 70 -300mm on a Nikon D50 giving an effective 450mm. Ok for most shots but I really felt I would have done much better with a 500 - 600mm, especially for birds. Although I had a small travel tripod it was a pain to use. Most of the time I used a “Kinesis” beanbag filled with about 3kg of rice. With the engine shut off that gave me a stable base.
After a second night at Addo we left early for Oudtshoorn. We backtracked on the N2 (this time via PE) as far as Humansdorp, then took the R62 towards Oudtshoorn.
This is a very picturesque road, a landscape photographers dream. Although you cannot drive as fast as on the N2 traffic was very light, sometimes we did not see another car for 10 minutes.
In Oudtshoorn we stayed at the NA Smit holiday resort. 3 thumbs down, a very grimy and outdated place, not at all pleasant.
As it was early afternoon we decided to go to the Cango caves first. I wish I had known how busy they are this time of year. The first available tour was in 3 hours, so we gave it a miss. Stopped for lunch on the road back to Oudtshoorn at a place called the Oude Muele (old mill). Very nice lunch on an interesting looking farm, they have guest rooms also and it looks like a nice place to stay. Went to the Cango Ostrich Farm on the same road, it’s not as sophisticated (from what I remember) as Safari or Highgate but an interesting tour nevertheless. Also stopped at the Cango Wildlife Ranch. Again, this is more of a place for kids, but the cheetah and lion section is interesting. My son did the “Crocodile cage” dive, he really enjoyed that. Just outside Oudtshoorn on the road to the caves is a roadside curio shop. Their prices seemed low compared to what we had seen elsewhere and they had some different things from most places.
Ate that night at “Friedls” in town, very good food and reasonable prices.
Returned early the next morning to CT, continuing on the R62. It is a beautiful drive
But unfortunately it was raining that day so we could not enjoy it as much, One could easily make this part a full day excursion stopping on the way.
Driving and Times. Most South Africans seem to judge time between places based on driving at or above the speed limit and not stopping at all. I found that most drives were actually 1 -2 hours more than I had been told.
Parking – We looked at the “Parking Guards” as a plus, where else will you find someone waving at you to show you an open space and then help guide you in or stop traffic when you leave?
Despite the skepticism of family and friends, we found most people to be very helpful and friendly. We did not have to deal with much of the bureaucracy involved in day to day living, but all of SA seems very attuned to tourist needs.
Jan 11th, 2007, 06:42 AM
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Shmulb
Thanks for your report...
You mentioned in your report introduction that you would separate your feelings as an ex-South African returning and focus on the travel but... as you are in a unique position to offer your personal insights (if it's not too much of an imposition) I'd be extremely interested in your thoughts...
Thanks for your report...
You mentioned in your report introduction that you would separate your feelings as an ex-South African returning and focus on the travel but... as you are in a unique position to offer your personal insights (if it's not too much of an imposition) I'd be extremely interested in your thoughts...
Jan 11th, 2007, 11:02 AM
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I'll chime in on the request for your perspective on how things have changed in the last 20 years. It would be really interesting tohear your thoughts.
Thanks for your report - now I'm off to look at your pictures!
<font color="green">Cyn</font>
Thanks for your report - now I'm off to look at your pictures!
<font color="green">Cyn</font>
Jan 12th, 2007, 03:24 AM
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Thanks to all who have commented, I will post some thoughts as to my feelings as an ex South African as soon as I get them together.
atrvelynn - Monkey land is a private park near Plettenberg bay. It is a large (75Hectares i think) fenced area. There specialty is rescuing monkeys from zoos, pets, stores etc and giving them as much of a "wild" experience as possible. Because they have mostly been hand raised most of them are not afraid of people, so when you go on a guided tour(which I recommend doing) of the facility you can get very close to them
http://www.monkeyland.co.za/
atrvelynn - Monkey land is a private park near Plettenberg bay. It is a large (75Hectares i think) fenced area. There specialty is rescuing monkeys from zoos, pets, stores etc and giving them as much of a "wild" experience as possible. Because they have mostly been hand raised most of them are not afraid of people, so when you go on a guided tour(which I recommend doing) of the facility you can get very close to them
http://www.monkeyland.co.za/
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