The Lovely Garden Route of South Africa

The spectacular entrance to Knysna's habour.
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The Garden Route of South Africa

January 11 – 19^th, 2007

Driving through it is like an excursion into the most varied and exciting nursery of plants one can imagine!

When I had heard of the Garden Route in South Africa, I had always pictured well groomed gardens one after another. This is not, however, the essence of the Garden Route. Yes, we did see some fabulous gardens, particularly at the Woodlands B & B in Wilderness and at beautiful Carmel by the Sea in Victoria Bay, but the real garden is this whole area of South Africa. Driving through it is like an excursion into the most varied and exciting nursery of plants one can imagine! One minute you are driving through pine forests, next it is the fynbos of small-leafed evergreen plants including so many different types of heathers, and then suddenly one is in the densest of jungles. Blink and you’ll surely miss a 100 different species! One of the most astounding sights was the proteas growing wild along the highway. Aren’t they the flowers that make the bouquets at Granville Island look so exotic and here they grow like weeds??? Wow! I learned that of the 115 varieties of protea, 85 of them only grow in the Cape area of South Africa. This is only one example of the vast diversity of plant life in this beautiful garden God has made

One of the many beautiful beaches along the garden route
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Again we’ve compiled our respective highlights of the Garden Route:

• Body surfing at the beautiful beaches – David
• Playing in the waves – Barb
• Clear clean water and magnificent beaches – Mom
• Excursion (boat & hike) to the Featherbed Nature Reserve – Karsten
• Magnificent scenery of Knysna’s narrow harbour passage – Mom
• The views from Carmel by the Sea Resort and Woodlands B&B in Wilderness – Barb
• Ostrich riding – Stephanie
• Horseback riding – Karsten
• The tremendous variety of vegetation – Barb