What a beautiful and diverse country.
And it's really a truth, when another person says: "When you come to Africa and you get the virus in your body, you'll be back as soon as possible."
This is how it happened with us. Since 2013, we visit this beautiful country for the third time.
The first time we started our trip from Cape Town, drove along the coast from the Garden Route and spent 5 nights near the Kruger NP.
The whole trip was self-booked, - flights, hotel, B & B and the car for our self drive.

And believe me, there are so many places to discover things and nature, there that would suffice for so many journeys.
For us Europeans, it is always impressive to be able to experience this wide range of landscapes.

So again, my invitation to discover this country.
I will not always appear in chronological order.

But now, we are starting ,- January 2013


1. Amazing view: from the Table Mountain, down to Cape Town City




2. Another Place : on the way to the Cape of Good Hoop

Cape of Good Hope - Wikipedia

Look to Hout Bay, from the Chapman's Peak Drive

Chapman?s Peak Drive ? Wikipedia

[traveler57]

At the River Lodge .....
The weather was in the days, let's say - so went ......
In the morning many clouds, which almost always broke up, at least for a short time, when we were in Addo.
Cloudy in the afternoon on the farm, sometimes with sun holes, sometimes completely closed and thunderstorms around us.
There were hardly any birds on the river or on the riverbank - only to be heard.
There were dragonflies in the garden, which had their beds there.
And what else is there, if you are on an almost stagnant water and around it are many plants.
Correct ... stinging insects, where there were hardly any mosquitoes / mosquitoes, but I was stung plenty, despite the creams and sprays.
For dinner I always had "mosquito" on, which at least there for security provided.
What helped a lot, against the itching and swelling, was a thermal bite away.
Already crazy, - in the Kruger last year I only had 3 stitches in the 10 days and here ....... plentiful !!!
They must have been cutted insects that sought their sacrifice during the day.
Even my wife, who usually remains completely unmolested, got it ..... with 3 stitches ;-)) ....!
As already indicated, the accommodation and the food there, were great!
The (sun) hours in the garden we enjoyed.
So we said goodbye after five nights, but a little heavier.

178.


179.


180.
Imagine this "little guy" very big ......
What it is exactly, I do not know yet, maybe a book will continue to lift me in a few days, - it's a robber fly...


181.


182.



184. short break .....


185. straight out ...


186. and discovered .... - and on the hunt !!! - after small insects


187. this was too big .....


188. inside ...


189.
just before dinner and as you can see, set for 10 people, so we were fully booked that evening.
- At least 6 people were always there in the evening.


The weather was perfect, as it was completely closed in the morning and barely 16-17 degrees.
It went down to the coast.
Since Jeffrey's Bay was on the way, we made a detour there.
Dirty, gray, the place presented us.
A very cool wind blew from the sea, at 18-19 degrees.
Everything was very similar, Sylt me. Only South African ...
Visited a few shops, for a beach visit it was cold .....

Following a tip, we stopped in Humansdorp and visited Le Chameleon.
Le Chameleon
A farm stable with a special flair.
Back in time in a long-gone world, full of red heavy wallpaper, floor coverings
and yet very sympathetic. We had a light lunch - Sandwich and Carrot Cake :-))

190. cool weather makes you hungry:


Now there was still a fair distance to go to Plettenberg Bay.
Approximately 30 km before the place, the low-hanging cloud cover finally broke and suddenly it got warmer.
Our navigation system guided us to the new accommodation.
The Pinkepank B & B.
This was our last accommodation on this trip.
Here we wanted to recover in the upcoming 5 days, a little hiking, lying on the beach and walk and visit two places, where we had been in 2013 before.
That these wishes did not come true, more in the last part of the RB.

I hope you still hold on, - it's over soon ...

[traveler57]

Plettenberg Bay and .......

The guesthouse for the last five nights was great, balcony, large room, modern bathroom, large garden with pool.
Everything perfect for a quiet end to the journey.
Unfortunately the coastal weather did not really play along.
On the Robbergtour the next day, it shuddered until the late afternoon.- http://www.capenature.co.za/reserves/robberg-nature-reserve/-/

191.


192.
Good 3 hours we were traveling, - for the middle tour.
In fine weather, with longer breaks would certainly have become around 5 hours.
What you need here are good shoes (hiking boots) and plenty of water to drink, especially in the sunshine when it's warm !!!

Corresponding signs are on the parking lot, - people were traveling in this weather with flip-flops ...
simply irresponsible! - Some of them noticed it soon and turned around ...



193. Fur seal colony



194. no sensory leak, but rain .....



195.


196.


The next day in Tsitsikamma it was a bit better and the best day of the weather.
We did not feel well after visiting 2013 here.
Unfriendly "clearance" at the entrance of the park, - very crowded in the parking lots by the sea.
A huge tent by the sea, which used to be the benches and picnic areas, with three very loud, large refrigerated containers at the lower parking lot.
I do not want to live in the first three wooden houses, where you can hear the thunder of the aggregates from 1st hand and the day and night.

A new building for the burnt down restaurant has not yet been started.
A wooden toilet house is there, and a shop away.
That one is not able to start a new building with the visitor frequency within nearly 1 1/4 years is meager.
Considering the high ticket prices here and the busloads of round trip tourists, bad management, from Sanpark.
The hike with the crowd was then not relaxed, only after the groups had to go back to their bus it went for a while,
until the supplies left.

Scenic still very beautiful, - but who seeks peace here, should open very early or very late, or
Maybe stay there better and not go to the bridges.
My highlight here was the sighting of the Knysna turaco - Knysna turaco - Wikipedia -
who was suddenly on me and about me (too) -flog and in all its splendor to see at short notice, until he disappeared very quickly in the bushes.
Bildtechnisch was nothing to do here, everything went much too fast!

197.


198.


Also on the next two days, it was rather cloudy, with some rain, sometimes a hint of sun.
So we went for a walk on the beach, strolled around Main Road and drove to Knysna again.
Time passed quickly.
The dinners at Fat Fish, Nguni, Cornuti and Ghillies were different, but always good.
Outside sitting very fresh or inside - very loud - as it was mega full everywhere !!
The food in Nguni was in a class of its own!

As I said, the last days we had imagined something different, with a bit more sun, beach and not so fresh ....
You can not have everything and here in Plettenberg you hoped for more rain .....

The departure from George with Kulula Airlines to Johannesburg was without any complications,
was punctual and over the more kilos of luggage, was overlooked.
In addition, there were still seats on the flight for us, with extra extra space for my long legs. Great!

Johannesburg- Istanbul- Hamburg without any special occurrences. Punctual and correct.

A conclusion of our relaxing trip.

Once planned differently, - with more longer nights and shorter distances, which did us very good.
We enjoyed the quiet places very much.
Cape Town and the surrounding area, - again and again !!!

At the hype in the Addo and in and around Plettenberg Bay we had to get used again.
In particular, the evening temperatures in Plettenberg Bay!

Overall, it was a very nice structured trip, with many different impressions.
The dry, almost semi-desert areas had something ... the days were u.a. a test for us,
if we could imagine a longer holiday in such areas (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa
in connection with Namibia). We came to the result: can be tackled .......


What was missing - especially me ....: were a variety of animals that I have missed.
Funnily enough, there are some birds, like bee-eaters, vultures, racks and hornbills., +++,
Even a holiday without Giraffichtungen is already strange, has been from the Impfindung ago.
Of course, on this year's trip there were quite different animals to see and discover.
The meerkats, near Oudtshoorn, were just great !!!
But I feel that the NP above Johannesburg, like the Marakele and Mapungubwe NP, are closer to me
and that the Kruger NP still stands far above these two in the ranking.

Further south is the Tembe Elephant Park, which I would favor with.
Whether it is the more green, I can not say exactly that I / us the Mountain Zebra NP is still the closest and was
and would be included in the ranking.
The Karoo NP is very different, so I would not want to compare it with the other parks.

What we noticed especially:
Whether it has to do with the Garden Route and the visitors there?
In any case, we've never been asked that much on recent trips to South Africa

--- "what else could be done, - what would be important, - what national park would be worth ...."

--- "We still have x days, if we still want to go there, we'll manage to be back in xy by xxx."

--- also from a lot of younger people.

Very blatantly we found an encounter and conversation, where it turned out that the couple had already made some visits to South Africa
(I mean about 7x), only on the Garden Route.
When we told something about our travels to the other areas, the eyes got bigger and bigger .....
"You can go there ???? - Johannesburg - never !!!
To the north and east - oh dear ...... "

I just say, "everyone's his" and good that the tastes are so different.

What was recommended to us very often, - make a trip to Botswana, that's just great there.

Information we collected, divserse routes us already looked, travel reports read and tour suggestions spotted, or us some videos on youtube viewed.
A self-drive tour would not be, because there is rainy season in February in the northern part of Botswana.
And as you can see on the videos, I do not dare to do that - neither the water passages nor the other 4x4 tracks.
Since I lack all experience and get stuck in the mud or water, I do not have to have more.
So here only a guided tour would be an option.

In South Africa, this is easier to handle.
Let's see what it will be .... March 2018


199. take off Johannesburg







Cut.....





Here ends the insights into the worlds of South Africa.

All were snapshots, which we (with) were allowed to experience.

After many considerations about where our next destination should be, it will be a trip to South Africa again....
Does that surprise you? -

But here is the end, - that has several reasons.
It has now become quite long with 4 travel reports.
And my travel photo equipment has changed.
Drastically reduced, I will only go with a body and two lenses on the trip.
Pentax remains, but now comes one for the trips

Olympus EM1 M II with in the luggage (mft 12-100mm Pro / + 70-300 mm)

A special thanks to those who have come along the long way and also to those who have just looked in ...

Bernd

[dbs]

Hi Bernd

Thankyou for taking us on the journey with you.
Some will want to experience and others not for them
Happy new year and travels

Dave.

[savoche]

Thanks for the guiding, Bernd! It has been an enjoyable journey (or 4). I have picked up several tips to follow up on for coming trips, maybe even already on the one later this year.