Since we no longer have our car “Skippy”, we’re going to make our way to Cape Town via public bus. Of course, it’s a 12 hour ride if you want to do it all at once – which we don’t – so we’re going to break it up with a few stops along the way.
Our first stop? The community of Knysna.
Knysna is located on the southern coast of Africa and it’s very close to some excellent national parks and hiking trails, but the reason Eric and I are stopping here is very simple…
OYSTERS!!!
Knysna is based around an ocean-fed lagoon which is home to a number of oyster farms and we’re looking forward to indulging in this local fare.
Of course we do want to work up an appetite beforehand, so we spend the day walking up to “the Heads”, which are large rock faces protecting the lagoon. From the top we can gaze down into the lagoon or out across the ocean, where we’re lucky enough to see some dolphins playing in the waves.
After our walk we settle ourselves in at an awesome oyster-shack called “Oystercatcher” and try a sampling of both the locally farmed-oysters and wild Pacific oysters harvested in the area. And of course, we also enjoy some of the regional beer and wine. Yummy!
Feeling fully satisfied with our time in Knysna, we decide our next destination should be Swellendam. We’ve heard it’s a quiet, little town, full of great hikes so we jump on a bus and make our way there.
Swellendam turns out to be exactly what we needed.
Swellendam Backpackers, our home for the next few days, is nestled beside the Langeberg mountains and the owner, Stephanie, serves us a delicious homemade soup and bread as part of the room price. She also makes us homemade Bobotie (aka. South African meatloaf) for dinner one night.
Really how can you go wrong with a place like this?
We spend the next couple of days hiking the Plaat Trail in Marloth Nature Reserve and strolling through the town. After so many days sitting on our butts in a car, the scramble up the mountains gives our hearts a much-needed workout!
Of course, we also visit a local berry farm for a liqueur tasting – got to have balance in life.
After a couple days, we say our good-byes to Stephanie and make our way to Cape Town.
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