The Garden Route starts

“For many South Africans this is a piece of paradise they can discover on their own doorstep. Stretching from Mossel Bay to the storm’s River Mouth like a necklace of bays, cliffs and rocky capes strung together along a line of pounding white surf, the Garden Route combines the best of Mother Nature with the best of first world creature comforts . …” This is how the Coat to Coast book guide describes this part of South Africa.

I was not expecting to find all the facilities of a western country, but yes. The Garden Route is completely prepared to give tourists all the needed comforts. I am travelling along the Garden Route with the Baz Bus, a hop-on hop-off bus that picks you up and drops you off at the door of any backpacker hostel, which means that I don’t have to carry my big backpack!

My first stop (09/02/2011) in the Garden Route is Knysna, a 3h drive from Cape Town (actually 6h by bus). Knysnia is a small village, in front of the ocean and guarded by two rocky cliffs called The Heads.

It is a beautiful place. The bad thing is that I paid a guided tour to The Heads, while in the backpackers hostel there was a free ride + tour to the same place… Oh well, sometimes you win sometimes you lose… 

My first afternoon in Knysna is just unexpectedly good. I arrive with the Baz bus around 6pm, I unpack my things and go for a walk around the village with Rico. We start talking and I find out Rico is a very interesting person. He is a pilot and he loves traveling, so he has so many stories to explain that I like to listen to.

Island Vibe Backpackers is 15km away from the beach, however Rico suggests to go to see it. What a great proposal! We arrive there not before 7.30pm, just before the sunset. We can feel the breeze and the calm of this place. We walk along the beach while Rico keeps explaining me amazing stories about India and Thailand.

Not very far from where we are we see two playful dolphins!Yes! Everyone has already seen dolphins, except for me. Now is my turn! We do not get to see them very well, but we can see they are jumping following the waves. The fisherman there is not as happy as we are, he explains us the dolphins are caching all the fish, so he is not lucky today.

The following morning I decide to go canoing with people from the hostel. This trip confirms me the Garden Route is just as green as any north European country. How nice!