This was our first visit to the Wilderness National Park. The Wilderness park was proclaimed in 1983 to protect the unique lakes system of the area, called the Wilderness lakes. Portions of the Touw System (Rondevlei, Langvlei, Eilandvlei and Serpentine) were designated as a RAMSAR site. It has since been incorporated in the Garden Route National Park which consists of the Tsitsikama and Wilderness National Parks.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and selected to stay at the Southern side of the campsite at the Ebb & Flow rest camp. In no time we selected a site on the water’s edge, overlooking the Touw River. Needless to say, Roger was quick to get Splash out and ready for a cruise! There are numerous water birds along the river and the first thing one sees when you open the door in the morning is Cormorants basking in the sun.
Sunday was quite festive along the river banks with many day visitors arriving for a braai and a day out. What a privilege to have such a facility on your doorstep. We took Splash all the way to the river’s mouth. A sand bank had closed it to the sea so there was no access to the waves (thankfully, say I!).
After lunch we decided to go to Herold, taking the Montagu Pass up and the Outeniqua Pass down. It was a beautiful, almost summer, day.
The Montagu Pass was completed in 1847 under the supervision of Australian road engineer Henry Fancourt White but it was only opened to the public in 1849. Until the completion of the Outeniqua Pass in 1951 it was the most direct route between George and the Little Karoo. It is still in good condition, even though it was never tarred.
Herold is a small farming settlement at the Northern end of the Montagu Pass. We decided to have a tea at the Mountain Guest Farm; with home-baked scones for me and carrot cake for Roger.
It was now quite late and we headed back to camp via the Outeniqua Pass. It was a fun day.
Our aim for the next day was to go to Knysna where we wanted to look up a friend and ex neighbour from our complex in Rosebank. We decided to take the scenic Passes Road to get there so the trip took the best part of 4 hours.
It was lovely to see Nadya again. We had tea and yummy eats, chatting and catching up on news, and admiring her new home. Too soon it was time to say goodbye and head back to our camp. The weather was glorious. There berg wind conditions and it was so warm that we were wearing summer clothes and even discarded the duvet in favour of a fleece blanket for the next two nights.
On Tuesday we set out in Splash again; this time in the opposite direction, up the Serpentine River towards Island Lake. The Serpentine is a long, narrow, meandering channel through a vast reed bed which connects Island Lake, Langvlei and Rondevlei to the sea via the Touw River.
Roger regretted not taking a rod along after a school of large fish swam past us in the crystal clear water…
On Island Lake there was a huge flock of Cormorants and we spent some time watching them. They would fly up in succession from the water in a co-ordinated manner to land and dive a short distance away; similar to a ‘Mexican wave’. They appeared to be herding fish in a co-operative hunting exercise.
Once back at camp we went up the Touw River past the south side of the Ebb & Flow campsite. It was calm and very beautiful indeed.
On our last day at Ebb & Flow we went out early to the ‘Map of Africa’ viewpoint that Nadya suggested we see. No visit to the Wilderness would be complete without it…
We had planned to stay for 2 nights but stayed for 4! Now it was time to move on; next stop Knysna.
So you continue to have a ball…. you lucky fellows 🙂 Interesting reading all your stories and looking at your pix. I’ve had the priviledge of paragliding from the Map of Africa lookout.
You certainly have done a lot of things in your life Wendy! Keep it up my friend…