As you travel around you are often asked, “Where are the
best places you have ever been to?” It is a hard question to answer and I have
always been surprised when South Africa (especially Cape Town) appears at the
top of the list for lots of our friends. I now know why!
Kristal and I just got back from a 9 day road trip from Cape
Town out to Port Elizabeth and back. We covered over 2,200 km (1400 miles) over
that span and took in tons of sights and experiences along the way. Here is a
little brief itinerary of what we did and where we stayed. It was an
adventurous trip to say the least and photos just don’t do justice to trail runs,
canopy tours, cage diving, etc. So check out the video we put together when you
have a spare couple of minutes!
We arrived in Cape Town on a Friday morning directly from
Doha. It was a 10 hour flight although the time difference was only one hour. Once
we landed, our first order of business was to register for the 22km trail run
we would be running on Saturday morning. We spent most of that day and night
preparing (a.k.a. carbo loading and yes, beer has carbs) for the race which had
a 7:00am start time. It was my first big run and I was quite nervous. The run
was absolutely stunning with steep hills, great views, and a great crowd to run
with. Although it was tough, Kristal and I made it through and were proud to
complete it!
After the run we spent some time in and around Cape Town. We
had lunch at the Hout Bay Market, swam with Penguins at Boulders Beach, and
watched the Springboks take on Japan in the Rugby World Cup (we won’t talk
about the result!). There is an endless amount to see and do in the Cape Town
area but we were headed for Stellenbosch and wine country!
While in Stellenbosch we stayed at an Air Bnb called Casa
Morri Vineyard. It was a Tuscan style winery overlooking a vineyard and olive
farm. The views were stunning and we spent two nights there while we explored
the areas. From there we took R62 (similar to Route 66 in the US) out towards
Calitzdorp. It was a classic road trip with winding (gravel) roads, random pit
stops, and great tunes along the way. After our stay over in Calitzdorp we went
to the Cango Caves where we crawled through spaces we thought we might never
get out of!
Later that night our friend Sheila arrived in Port Elizabeth
and we headed towards Addo Elephant Park. We spent a night just outside the
park in a massive outdoor tent and went in for a game drive the next morning.
In the park you could drive your own vehicle, so we cruised around with
elephants, zebras, warthogs, and all the other animals in our hatchback VW! From
Addo we went along the southern Garden Route on R2 back towards Cape Town.
On the route we did a zip line canopy tour in Tsitsikamma
National Forest, saw the world’s highest bungee jump (although we didn’t have
time to do it ourselves), took a nature walk through Monkeyland with over 600
rescued monkeys, took in the scenic views in Knysna, and made our way to
Gansbaai to go cage diving with Great White Sharks. All of that was over the
course of just two or three days, so needless to say, we were on the move!
Along the route there was so much more we would have loved to do and just
didn’t have time. We hope to be able to go back and work on our “next time”
list we came up with.
Our whirlwind tour ended back in Cape Town for one last
night before Kristal and I went back to Doha and Sheila over to Mauritius for a
dive trip. Although our time in South Africa was short, it was full of
adventure and an amazing change of scenery. Tourism in South Africa is
incredibly well done and the hospitality was amazing. I can surely say it is
one of the best places I have visited and can’t wait to get back there again
someday in the future!
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