BEN (from his journal) - We packed up and said goodbye to Fairy Knowe Backpackers, but
not without some recommendations and another delicious omelet from Paul, the
owner. We decided that as rain was
predicted for the day, we would do a driving tour. We got onto the N2 (The Garden Route) where we
set out for the town of George to catch the N12 up north to the Outiniqua
Mountains. It felt as if we had entered
Middle Earth, soaring mountain tops with big fluffy white clouds at their
peaks. Beautiful. We stopped a few times as we navigated up the
windy road and made it through the mountain pass. Once over the mountains, we entered sort of a
high valley in between two sets of mountain ranges which was filled with
vineyards, ostrich farms, and eventually the town of Outsdhorn. On our way there I was able to see my first
zebra, or as they say here ‘zeh-brah,’ although at a great distance. The pattern was unmistakable though. We passed through Outsdhorn and headed for
the Swartberg Pass, the second mountain range to drive through. We drove awhile, and eventually reached the
foothills of the towering Swartberg Mountains, their peaks invisible due to a
bunch of rain clouds slowly moving in from the west. The road turned to dirt and became quite
vertical and windy. It took a long time
to ascend into the clouds as we looked at the lush, fertile valley below. We stopped occasionally, but the combination
of the altitude, light rain, and cold wind made us reach for our sweatshirts
and get back in the car quickly. The
views were spectacular as we eventually reached the highest point (all the
while taking copious amounts of pictures) and the descent began. The geology, climate, topography, and
vegetation completely changes, as the rocks turned red and the bedding became
sheer and vertical. The vegetation was
more that of an arid environment. We
wound our way down on the dirt road through an enormous red-rock canyon that
reminded me a lot of Zion National Park in the Southwest US. It’s amazing that this spectacular natural
wonder is just there, no advertising, no hoop-lah, just a simple dirt road into
one of the most beautiful scenic landscapes I’ve ever been in. It would put many of the US’s National Parks
to shame (and completely shits on New Jersey’s Delaware Water Gap). Anyway, we finally made it down to the tiny
stream that cut through the rock to form this amazing canyon and followed it
out into the Karoo Desert, the flat arid land on the northern side of the
mountains. We pulled into the small town
of Prince Albert where we stopped at the Lazy Lizard for an absurdly avocado filled
sandwich and chocolate milkshake. Our
waitress was a beautiful 10-12 year old African girl who Gabby immediately
wanted to steal and keep. After
wrestling away the beast of maternal instinct we headed out of town and drove
east, parallel with the mountains to meet back up with the major highway. Time to conquer another mountain pass,
although this one didn’t require us to climb up into the clouds; it simply
followed a large riverbed all the way through another jaw-dropping canyon. At one point we stopped at a rest stop with
thatched roofs to pee and saw that there was a small trail that
said ‘Waterfall’ off to the side. We
decided to go check it out, climbed a few stairs, rounded a corner, and saw a
small waterfall. We walked over to check
it out and our jaws dropped as we saw the real waterfall, a casual 60m drop through
a gorgeous red-rocked canyon at a rest stop.
Just another day in Africa I guess.
We marveled and took pictures. We
continued back to Outsdhorn and beyond back down the Outiniqua Pass where we
were greeted with a rainbow over the mountains.
We eventually wound our way back down to sea level and the Garden
Route. It was another hour drive to
Island Vibe Backpackers in Knysna. The
place was cool and we treated ourselves to our first en-suite room which was a
nice luxury. We went out to dinner at
the Knysna Waterfront and had some excellent sushi before heading back to the
hostel. Knysna is a cute coastal town,
but is a bit touristy. Another amazing day
in South Africa.
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