South Africa: Week 3 (Garden Route)

The road trip consisted of overnights in several unique South African towns including Mossel Bay, Knysna, and Plettenberg Bay. Visits to Montagu, Swellendam, George, Wilderness, and finally the Bloukrans Bridge (our easternmost destination) were also made along the way.

Maps displaying our route (click to enlarge)

Here are some photos from the ride to Mossel Bay and our first two stops in Montagu and Swellendam:

Our lightning fast ride: 530 hp @ 6,250 rpm | 0-60 mph: 3.1 sTop Track Speed: 196 mph | 25 mpg

After several hours of driving we arrived in Mossel Bay, an amazing shore town known for whale watching and its great white population (not as cool as it sounds. legitimately scary, actually).  We spent a good amount of time at the beach but I wasn't particularly thrilled about swimming. Although realistically, the threat of an attack was only slightly greater than at home. Mossel Bay also has some amazing cliff trails. Check out some of the pics:

Common room of the Mossel Bay Backpackers (where we stayed)

  After a brief drive through Wilderness, we stopped in Knysna. Kysna is home to what are called the "two heads." The two heads are a pair of huge cliff faces the jut out toward one another at the entrance to the Knysna Bay. We took advantage of our time in town by hiking all over these cliffs:

Our final overnight was spent in Plettenberg Bay, an incredibly popular spring break town for South African students and an equally popular vacation spot for families from all over the world. Here, we had the opportunity to swim in crystal-clear, warm (as compared to other locations) water. We also checked out one of the insanely nice hotels that border the bay. Below are some of the shots I came out with:

At last, we reached the Bloukrans Bridge, a 1,480 foot long, 709 foot tall divider between the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Ian and I had decided weeks before I even came to the country that we had to jump off of this beast, so we did. The under-structure of the Bloukrans is home to the highest commercial bungee jumping platform in the world. The jump was very extreme but overall less scary than I thought it might be. Here's the video of my jump (for the record, I did not add that lame music and I had no idea what this dude was explaining to me):

Following the jump, our road trip concluded and we made the long, slightly sad journey back to Stellenbosch. Only one more week left in Africa!

South Africa: Week 3 (Safari)

For week 3, we set out on a road trip along the coastal "Garden Route" of South Africa. During the first two days, however, we took a quick pit stop to the Aquila Game Reserve northeast of Stellenbosch. Despite being relatively small in comparison to other parks and lodges in South Africa, Aquila had plenty of awesome animals. Unfortunately, some of the more exotic ones had to be placed in cages or under constant supervision to protect them from poaching. Still, the majority of animals were able to roam free on Aquila's massive park grounds.

Here are some photos from our drive to the reserve:

The drive was incredibly scenic and despite a few car difficulties and pit-stops to check out baboons (which is generally not recommended because they can be dangerous), we survived. We arrived at the lodge after 2-3 hours. Below are photos of the camp grounds, including shots of our room:

The lodge was a seriously nice place and Ian and I took full advantage of the buffet meals, which would have otherwise been way too expensive. It was awesome. The main events, of course, were our two safaris, one afternoon drive and one morning drive. Both were very successful:

As usual, I am several weeks behind on blogging and I apologize for that. I am going to try to finally get caught up and stay on top of things now.  For the next post (ideally coming later today/tonight), I will share a ton of photos from the remainder of the Garden Route. Don't forget to ask questions/comment if you want!