Hello
I have ten days to get myself from Cape Town to Port Alfred in the last third of July. I was intending to start in a Backpackers in Cape Town for three nights (4 days) and do day trips to Robbens Island, Cape Point, Hermanus and Table Mountain. Then travel along the Garden route. I love nature and activity - hiking and cycling etc, so I would appreciate any comments on the Cape Town itinerary and any advice on seeing the natural beauty of the Garden Route in an active way.
To try and minimise time spent hopping on and off buses or cars - I had intially toyed with the idea of catching an intercape bus to Knysna and using that as a central location to do activity based day trips to Wilderness and Tsitsikama National park and then hiring a car to complete my journey to Port Alfred where I will be going to a volunteer assignment on a game reserve for 3 weeks. I have looked at Baz Bus, but wondered if the time table and route were a little restrictive - hence considering hire car for the final part of the journey. However I also notice on the forum that people are not too keen on Knysna
So I appreciate any advice anyone can offer on - the active things to see and do / and any tour companies that are particularly good for activities- because I'm solo I'd love company, thoughts on transport options / and maybe where would be a good central place to locate myself.
Thanx
Greatly
Hi Judy
Knysna was and still is a very scenic place with the lagoon, heads and alot of natural beauty and shouldn't be missed. But it is not what it was say 10 yrs ago. It is very touristy and built up with a mini waterfront and shopping malls. The arty and bohemian folk have moved out and been replaced by yuppies and expensive up market restuarants and condos, this has ruined the natural beauty of Knysna.
It is definetly worth a visit, but I would rather stay in Wilderness ( which is a short drive from Knysna ). It is far more relaxed & with-out the hype.
you could always hire the car in cape town and drive to knysna - it only takes about 5/6 hours if you do it straight and you could stop along the way if you wanted to... its a very pretty drive.
If you like hiking and nature, I would definitly recommend that you stay in Wilderness. The location is stunning. There's a hostel close to the National Park (Fairy Knowne or smt like that) and you can do hikes in that park, and canoe. Another good stop for you would be Nature's Valley (or Storm river, but I never went there - I assume it's similar, both town are on the 2 extremity of the tsitsikama Park). Hikes, hikes, and more hikes!
There is many day tour for Cape point, if you're by-yoursefl it worth it - however if you can find 1-2 people to rent a car with, it's definitly worth it. Then you go to your own rythm. A lot of hikes possible there, and some people cycle there too.
Hope you will have nice weather, when I was in Cape town I didn't see Table mountain because the time never cleared up, neither Robben island (they cancel when it's bad weather). Book in advance for Robben island
Baz bus is ok, but it's expensive for this lenght of the road which is very well served by local buses. Wilderness and Nature's valley are a bit out of the road, but contact the hostel where you want to stay and they will come pick you up (for a small amount or even for free)
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