The Garden Route - Part 1

As you know, from Jo’burg we flew to Port Elizabeth, with the plan being to drive from here to Cape Town. One of the key things that you can’t help but notice in South Africa is the poverty and the racial divide that accompanies it. Although we passed a number of townships in Jo’burg, in Port Elizabeth we got to see them first hand, visiting Red Location, the city’s oldest African township, and a significant area in the anti-apartheid struggles. The area has grown significantly since 1902 when it was first established, with a number of other townships emerging around it, including New Brighton and Kwaford. Seeing such ‘slums’ on TV and in real life just doesn’t compare. The most overwhelming thing is the rubbish: it is absolutely everywhere, mountains of plastic bottles and strips of carrier bags, with the worst thing being the numerous people sifting through them all, along with a number of pigs and stray dogs. Passing further into the township you see how some of this rubbish is used, with some of the ‘houses’ having roofs made of black polythene bags, and windows boarded with cardboard. These ‘houses’ are probably not even 6ft by 6ft, and many in this area don’t have any sanitation. Some however, are serviced, with the luxury of an inside toilet and running water, yet are still often built from odd bits of wood and haphazardly assembled breeze blocks at best. And yet, five minutes drive away brings you to massive mansions barricaded on all sides with electric fences and armed response signs adorning every wall, with large, luxurious malls and restaurants lining the streets. This division is not exclusive to large towns and cities such as Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg however, everywhere we have visited on the Garden Route has a township just outside the main town, with a number being a lot worse off than those we described in Port Elizabeth.  

Our first stop after Port Elizabeth was Storms River Mouth (near to where Ryan did his bungy jump), where Storms River exits through a huge gorge in to the Indian Ocean. A pedestrian suspension bridge spans the river mouth, from which you can watch the water coming rushing through the gorge. Just on from Storms River Mouth we stopped off at a place called The Crags, where we visited an elephant sanctuary. At the sanctuary we were able to feed, stroke and walk with the elephants. Walking with the elephants was especially amazing, as they place their trunks in your palm, and you lead them through the forest. As an elephant’s trunk is their main airway they are constantly blowing hot air out onto your hand as you walk, which was a lovely experience! Especially as it’s not the cleanest of air as they’re constantly hovering the floor for food! The guides also told us about all the different parts of (African) elephants, including the fact that they die of starvation, as their teeth wear down from years of chomping, and they can no longer chew their food. They also said that if they feed the elephants too many oranges they come out whole in their dung as elephants only digest around 40% of what they eat!

After visiting the elephants we drove on to Plettenberg Bay, which is known as the ‘flashiest’ of the Garden Route’s seaside towns, attracting the residents of Johannesburg’s richest suburbs over Christmas. The town itself however, didn’t seem that amazing to us, just a few tourist shops and a lot of houses. There is a nature reserve a few kilometres out of the town however, that was beautiful. The Robberg Peninsula stretches out into the Indian Ocean, giving the town it’s ‘bay’ status. The 8km walk around the peninsula was mostly along steep narrow cliff paths, with a lot of scrambling and clinging on for dear life! But the views were spectacular, especially the huge colony of seals that live at the base of one of the cliffs, which we smelt long before we saw them! It was brilliant to sit and watch them basking on the rocks and jumping and diving everywhere in the nearby waters.