Circles in a forest

Today, we headed up the Garden Route, stopping at the Cocomo for breakfast in Wildernis, then on to the Milkwood Forest in Knysna, where we hiked the ‘Kringe in ‘n Bos’ (Circles in a Forest) trail, a 3.5 km circular walk through the indigenous forest. The trail is named after author Dalene Matthee’s book about the woodcutters who used to live in the forest, along with the Knysna elephants. This was a set-work book that I had to study in Afrikaans, and it is a delightful story, beautifully told. Apparently, Matthee used to visit this section of the forest and it inspired her writing. Now, she is buried beneath an 800 year old, 40 metre high yellowwood tree at the start of the trail.

After our walk, we drove on to Plettenberg Bay for lunch at Moby Dick restaurant, overlooking the beach and Beacon Isle hotel. [Name] and I took a quick dip in the ocean and enjoyed body surfing in the waves. Our overnight accommodation is in the Stormsriver Mouth Village, which is peaceful, with a soundtrack of chirping crickets and cheeping birds.

From Stormsriver, we drove to Jeffrey’s Bay, where we spent a few hours on Dolphin Beach. I rediscovered the exhilaration of body surfing and [name] basked in the sun. Later, when we arrived at The Aardvark, our overnight accommodation, we discovered that the temperatures had reached 35 degrees C (our Addo guide the next day said it had been 42 in the park). We relaxed in a hammock before driving to one of the Addo hides overlooking a waterhole. As the sun set, we spotted an elephant in the distance, some warthogs and a heron.

Our sunrise drive this morning was more fruitful. We saw zebra, hyena, kudu, jackal, hare, elephant, buffalo, tortoise and springbok. Later, we also saw hartebeest and were captivated by a herd of more than twenty elephant around a waterhole. The antics of two baby elephants were delightful, chasing egrets and mimicking their mother with their trunks. We also saw two elephant bulls dunking each other in the water. Now, from our safari tents overlooking a waterhole, we can see a herd of buffalo and some kudu that have come for a sunset drink.

On our way back down the N2 from Port Elizabeth, we stopped just outside Knysna at Die Gieter restaurant, which has beautiful views across the estuary. Yesterday, [name] and I went to Witsand and, despite a strong wind, had a dip in the tidal pool.