Knysna to Port Elizabeth

Looking out at the Indian Ocean
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Today we left Knysna to journey to Port Elizabeth, our last portion of the Garden Route.  We had at 12:30pm forest Canopy Tour at Storms River Village, a gorgeous forest area along the coast.  Since we got there about 75 min early, we figured we had enough time to drive into the National Park to the Storms River Mouth.  The mouth is about 18 km south of the village, but we had to go through the toll gate and find parking before we got to our goal, a 1km (each way) hiking trail to the suspension bridge over the river.  By the time we were ready to hike it, we basically had to run each way and barely even stop for pictures, as it was a long walk up and down many stairs/platforms, weaving our way through many tourists.  We both agree that despite the back-breaking pace, it was worth the views!  I recommend way more time in the area - the beach looked great.

Looking up towards the river mouth at Storms River
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Today we took the three hour Tsitsikamma Canopy Tour, which takes you on zip line through a series of platforms in the forest.  The platforms themselves are 15-30 meters above the ground, built around the trees, without a single hole drilled into the beautiful trees.  We got fantastic views of the forest below as we zipped between the platforms.  I also felt very safe as we wore full body harnesses that attached us to the zip lines, and you could control your own speed by simply pressing down on one of the ropes overhead with your well-gloved hand.  It is peaceful and easy, even for those afraid of heights!  You can take it as fast (and we did get some adrenaline rushes) or as slow as you want.

After our tour we had to high tail it to Port Elizabeth, our stop for the night.  We never like driving in big cities, this was especially confusing without a map of how to get from the highway to the city center!