4 Day Garden Route and Route 62 Scheduled Tour

Day 1: Port Elizabeth to Knysna (±265km)

Destination: Knysna
Accomodation: Protea Hotel Knysna Quays
Meals included: None
Attractions include: Garden Route , Storm’s River Mouth , Knysna Estuary , Knysna , Tsitsikamma , Knysna Heads , Storm's River Mouth suspension bridge .

Your driver-guide will collect you from your Port Elizabeth hotel, or the airport, after breakfast. You join up with other tour members and depart for the Garden Route.

As you approach the the Tsitsikamma section of the Garden Route National Park, you’ll note that the landscape is framed by the Tsitsikamma Mountains in the interior and the ocean opposite. The Route is named for its scenic beauty and unique vegetation, including sections of lush indigenous forests, featuring amongst others, huge yellowwood trees.

A short drive along a scenic stretch of rugged coastline sees you arriving at Storms River Mouth. You have lots of time to take the 700m boardwalk to the nearby River Mouth. Enroute you’ll pass through dense coastal forest. The final section of the hike is a real treat as you encounter three connected pedestrian suspension bridges. The first two stretches between rocky points above the waves breaking onto the shoreline. The third spans the river mouth and provide a peek upstream of the river that flows through a deep gorge lined with cliffs.

From Storms River you travel further, past Plettenberg Bay (where you’ll return tomorrow) and onwards to Knysna. Your hotel is located right on the edge of the Knysna Estuary. Board a ferry for a sunset cruise out towards the Knysna Heads (headlands framing the estuary mouth). This evening you head into the small Knysna Waterfront, right next to your hotel, where you may dine (own account) at one of the various restaurants.

Day 2: Knysna to Plettenberg Bay and back (±60km)

Destination: Knysna
Accomodation: Protea Hotel Knysna Quays
Meals included: Breakfast
Attractions include: Plettenberg Bay , Robberg and Robberg Nature Reserve .

After breakfast, depart for nearby Plettenberg Bay. Two companies operate ocean cruises that launch right from the main beach, a short way from the demarcated swimming area. The actual launching procedure is quite unique and exhilarating. But it’s the time you spend on the beautiful bay that really makes it worthwhile. You cruise out behind the breakers towards the magnificent Robberg Peninsula, where a large colony of Cape Fur Seals reside. There’s a very good chance of encountering dolphins along the way and in season - July to November - Southern Right Whales. While having a lot of fun you’ll also get close to marine life and will learn a lot as well. A very memorable experience.

Back on shore you have time to enjoy a relaxing lunch in town (own account) before heading to Plettenberg Bay’s Qolweni Township for a tour. You also visit a school / crèche. The latter is supported by a charity and the income generated from the tours go towards the school. If you want you may take stationery and/or books along to donate to the school.

You have some leisure time available on your return to Knysna. Dinner is once again at your own leisure and for your own account - at the Knysna Waterfront or in town if you prefer.

Day 3: Knysna to Oudtshoorn via the Outeniqua Pass (±125km)

Destination: Oudtshoorn
Accomodation: De Opstal Country Lodge
Meals included: Breakfast and dinner
Attractions include: Outeniqua Pass , Oudtshoorn ostrich farms , Garden Route , Oudtshoorn , Buffelsdrift Game Lodge .

After breakfast you depart Knysna. You pass by a number of lakes and small communities before making a photo stop at an elevated viewpoint near the town of Wilderness. Enjoy expansive views of the ocean and sandy beaches stretching into the distance. A little ways further you turn to the interior and travel over the rugged Outeniqua Mountains via the scenic Outeniqua Pass.

Beyond the pass you arrive in Oudtshoorn. With more than 400 ostrich farms the region is also referred to as the Ostrich Capital of the World. Two boom periods in international demand for ostrich feathers (1865-1870 and 1900-1914) created instant wealth for many in town. The inevitable bust periods that followed instantly ruined a good number of them as well. Sandstone ‘ostrich feather palaces’ in town attest to this period. You visit an ostrich show farm where you enjoy lunch (own account) before touring the farm and getting up close and personal with the birds.

There’s an opportunity for an optional game drive (own account) at Buffelsdrift Game Reserve, not far from your hotel. Dinner to be enjoyed at the hotel.

Day 4: Oudtshoorn to Cape Town via Route 62 (±420km)

Destination: Cape Town
Meals included: Breakfast
Attractions include: Route 62 , Cango Caves , Buffelsdrift Game Lodge , Cape Winelands , Cape Town , Oudtshoorn , Klein Karoo .

After breakfast you head to nearby Buffelsdrift Game Lodge where you have the unique opportunity of interacting with African Elephants. You’ll get up close and personal with the elephants and participate in feeding them while receiving information on their status in the wild, their habits, biology, etc. Next is the Cango Caves in the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains, formed roughly 20 million years ago. Take a guided tour of part of the cave system.

Departing the Oudtshoorn area you travel down Route 62. Connecting Oudtshoorn in the east with Worcester in the west it’s a firm favourite with travellers. It includes scenic valleys and numerous mountain passes. In the Tradouw Valley you make a stop for a tasting of traditional Mampoer. It’s a potent spirit mostly stoked and distilled from peaches.

Beyond Worcester you travel through the magnificent Du Toit’s Kloof - flanked by mountain peaks on both sides - before entering the Huguenot Tunnel. The 4km tunnel is the longest of its kind in South Africa. Onwards from the tunnel you pass through the picturesque Cape Winelands before arriving in Cape Town where you will be taken to your hotel or the airport.

Note: No touring or accommodation is included in Cape Town. If called upon we’ll gladly assist with the arrangements of extra days prior to, or after the tour, in Cape town and/or Port Elizabeth. This may include accommodation, touring and/or flights.