Access to Nature’s Valley and the De Vasselot campsite is along the Groot River Pass and is spectacular. The Great Fire of 1869 opened the way for the construction of the pass, built by Thomas Bain. It descends 220 m in 4 km, and construction reached the Groot River in 1881.
We stayed at the De Vasselot Campsite for 2 nights. It was a nostalgic visit with us remembering 2 previous times here: once at the end of the Otter Hiking trail, and once at the start of the Tsitsikamma Hiking trail.
This time we would not be doing much walking, but we improvised by hiring a canoe. It was fun and I even had two short walks on the beach; progress, albeit slow…
On Saturday Roger went fishing with Duncan whom he met during our walk on the beach, while I stayed ‘at home’ and put my feet up. We had a surprisingly good evening meal at the local pub while watching the Springboks ‘white-wash’ Scotland (sorry Pauline…).
Our next stop was Storms River Mouth and we decided to take the Bloukrans Pass instead of the N2. It was, again, beautiful and spectacular with steep cuttings and enclosed avenues through dense indigenous forest. We were intrigued by the fact that it had obviously not been maintained recently, with rocky debris lying at regular intervals on the road. There were some places where a single car could just pass piles of rock and soil that had slipped down the near vertical slope obstructing one lane. In other places the outside lane showed signs of subsiding with longitudinal cracks in the depressed tar surface. When we eventually got to the end of the pass we encountered a barrier of sand heaped across the road! Fortunately for us it had been partially removed on the left side which allowed Ufudu and the trailer to just scrape past. It seemed that the pass was actually closed but with no warning of this at the Western end! Roger’s reversing skills have improved dramatically over the last 8 months but this could really have been a test; a U-turn was totally out of the question!
Anyway, all’s well that ends well…
On leaving the pass we were once again into Pine and Bluegum plantations with invasive Wattle and Bugweed choking the road verges. It is sad that so little of our indigenous forests remain.
Entering the Storms River section of the Garden Route National Park is like entering another world. The pine plantations end at the entrance gate and a newly resurfaced tar road winds through pristine looking bush and forest down the few kilometres to the rest camp. It is beautifully maintained, clean and up-market. Why can’t this standard not be upheld everywhere? We checked in and wasted no time in parking Ufudu at the campsite. It was well past lunch time and we were hungry! The camp restaurant turned out to be a Cattle Baron and they offer a wonderful Sunday Buffet. We ate far too much and then finished our wine while watching Malachite and Double-collared Sunbirds hawking insects and probing for nectar in the patch of aloes below the restaurant’s deck. Whales were moving past in the distance, blowing, tailing and occasionally breaching. The weather was stunning.
Next we embarked on the walk to the suspension bridge to work off some of our lunch. It was a lot further than we remembered it to be! A boardwalk built from recycled plastic ‘wood’ starts just past a rocky beach at the restaurant. It hugs the steep, forested side of the gorge for about a kilometre before a steep stairway leads to the bridge. It was slow going for me as there are countless steps, but I made it!
We lingered the next day, just enjoying the absolute splendour of the surrounds and were rather reluctant to leave after lunch. We have so many happy memories of hikes and other adventure activities here…
We were keen to visit the Van Stadens Wild Flower Reserve but our ‘trusty’ Garmin took us to the wrong place. Again! No problem though; we spent the night on the banks of the Gamtoos River at the Gamtoos Ferry Resort’s caravan park. We were again experiencing berg wind conditions so it was hot. This was just a night stop so we were out rather early (for us!) the next day to find the reserve we were looking for. Thanks to their website we now had correct GPS coordinates!
While driving on the N2 the Jeffrey’s Bay Wind Farm came into view. It is amazing to see these huge turbines quietly turning away. And awesome to think that such a large facility actually exists in South Africa. The ‘farm’ consists of 60 turbines spread over 3700 ha of land, with an output of 460 000 MWh/year (enough for 100 000 households). Each turbine is 80m tall; each blade is 49m long, and the rotor diameter 101m.
The Van Stadens Wild Flower reserve is 35 km outside of Port Elizabeth. It was founded in 1951, which makes it the oldest wild flower reserve in the country. It is a municipal facility which is supported by the Friends of Van Stadens volunteers. There are a number of walking trails but the wind was howling so we chose to stay in Ufudu and do the circular driving route instead. Proteas, Erica and many other plants were flowering but unfortunately we saw few birds due to the strong wind.
We will have to go back later to do some walking and birding when conditions are more favourable.
Next stop Gramhamstown, for the National Arts Festival which has been on my bucket list for years!