Overland Travel With KMcGee

What do you do when you are frustrated beyond belief and downright angry at the incompetent and ridiculously slow and antiquated system for processing vehicle license registration requests, and consequently, are kept hostage to the system and unable to go anywhere too far from Cape Town, and certainly not across an international border, for fear of getting stopped by the police and either given a hefty fine or thrown in jail? Such is my state of mind, as I am STILL in Cape Town waiting for my vehicle registration, which was promised to me more than a week ago, and then promised me again a few days later, and then again, and again. I want to scream at someone, but it wouldn’t do any good and probably would delay the process even more. So all I can do is work really hard on my patience and understanding – which can be very difficult for me at times – and wait for the “system” to eventually bear fruit.

SO, if you were in my state of mind and had time, days possibly, to kill in the vicinity of Cape Town, what would you do? I thought of three viable options:

First option: find a nice campsite, preferably next to a stream or river, nested in the mountains and surrounded by nature’s majesty, and just kick back on my reclining camp chair with binos by my side and let the birds come to me while I read “Cry of the Khalahari” for the third time. And let the story of the Khalahari and the birds bring peace to my mind.

Second option: visit half a dozen or so of the hundreds of wineries in the area and sample some of the incredible wines – and there are literally hundreds of wineries of all sizes and varieties to choose from, and they are usually situated in a beautifull setting with a lodge, restaurant or cafe, and wine tasting all to be had – and let the wine dissolve my troubles away, at least after the second or third glass.

Third option: go on a really strenuous mountain hike involving physical exertion and lots of sweat – and there are lots of private nature reserves in the mountains surrounding Cape Town with lots of hiking trails and peaks begging to be climbed – and let the mountain splendor melt away my troubles.

OK, these are the viable options that I thought of. Let’s do pros and cons:

Option 1: PROS: there is nothing so relaxing as lying back in the recliner listening to the birds sing, with the sound of running water and a light breeze blowing through the trees in the background, especially with the sun shining and warming the body to a comfortable temperature when the ambient temperature is around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And sometimes the best birding is to sit still and let the birds come to you. And Cry of the Khalahari is an epic wildlife adventure story that resonates. CONS: the only exercise obtained from this activity is the arm bringing the mug of hot chocolat, or sweet apple juice once the ambient temperature rises enough, to the mouth every so often. And the pastries (i.e., homemade doughnuts and cinnamon rolls from the several visited local bakeries) eaten over the previous couple of days simply turn into fat deposits. And when there are breaks in the bird song, or the Khalahari story gets too familiar, the mind can wonder back to why you are so miserable being hostage to the system.

Option 2: PROS: There’s nothing like a good glass of red wine straight from the winery to remove stress, and after enough glasses the whole world looks beautiful and perfect and troubles simply float away to oblivion. And when you’re in outstanding wine country, it just makes sense to experience the local culture, doesn’t it – “when in Rome”. CONS: There’s nothing worse than drinking your troubles away by yourself; it’s one thing to do it with good company, but quite another to be that loner getting sloshed all by themself. And if money is a concern, it is a very expensive treatment for anger; indeed, it would be cheaper to pay for the therapy session.

Option 3: PROS: Physical exercize is a proven effective method for stress reduction, and it comes with the added benefit of being really good for you. And there’s no better way to ensure a good night sleep than to tire out the body from a good day of exercise. And pure untrammeled nature is the greatest thing that the world has to offer, so what better way to counter negativity than immersing ones self in nature. CONS: climbing mountains is damn hard and can be dangerous, especially when hiking alone. And there is always the chance of getting bitten by a poisonous snake – and there are plenty of them out there, most notably the Puff Adder, which is extremely aggressive and highly poisonous – and dying a slow, painful and agonizing death – all by yourself.

SO, there we have it: three plausible options for dealing with the frustation and building anger at being held hostage in Cape Town by “the system”. Let’s play the “2 lies and 1 truth” game to see how well you think you know me. Here are photos depicting me after choosing each option. Two are lies, one is the truth:

Now it is up to YOU to decide which one of the options above I actually chose. For those of you still reading this post and interested, send me your guess as a comment and I will compile the results and post the truth on my next post.

Good luck!

Here’s a quickie post to keep us all engaged while I remain hostage to the vehicle registration system for another couple of days. To kill a day, I decided to take a quick one day and night trip up the west coast to none other than the West Coast National Park, located roughy 200 km from Cape Town. But instead of heading inland to the Cederberg Mountains like last time, this time I headed over to the coast to a rather small Park that straddles a large shallow lagoon and supports one of only a handful of remaining patchs of coastal lowland fynbos vegetation. You might recall that last year I visit the De Hoop Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape; this Park is a very similar landscape in terms of terrain, vegetation and wildlife, but located on the west coast.

This Park, as I said, straddles a large shallow lagoon, but it is connected to Saldanha Bay, a deep-water bay that has an important and storied history. Because the bay is protected from the storms on all sides, except for the narrow inlet, it provided a perfect safe harbor for boats partaking in the East India trade during the 16-18th centuries before passing around the Cape of Good Hope out on Cape Point near Cape Town, which was notoriously hazardous to ships under sail.

The Bay area was, of course, inhabited by natives (including the San) and early humans for more than 100,000 years before the Europeans arrived. Some of the earliest human archeological sites can be found in this area. But the European’s quest for trade with the East Indies brought the Portuguese, Dutch, French and Brittish to these shores, and they fought over possession of the Bay multiple times, with the Brittish ultimately winning out. There are all kinds of stories about ships from one country getting caught in the Bay by another and crews taken prisoner. There were even periods when pirates ruled the Bay. There are stories of starvation and disease among the sparse inhabitants because of the harse climate, scarcity of food sources and lack of fresh water, etc. They even had a colony site for people with small pox who were sent here to either die or recover. Anyways, lots of exciting things happened in this Bay years ago. Now, it’s mostly surrounded by upscale vacation communities, and the Park itself on one side.

I spent half a day in the Park, mainly visiting three different bird blinds and looking for wildlife – my first focused wildlife observations since returning to Africa this year! Saw Eland, Red Hartebeest and Bontebok antelope and lots of birds, including a few new species. The Park has no camping, so I found a campground just outside the Park on the bay shore in the town of Langebaan. Nothing too noteworthy, but I had it all to myself, so that’s a plus:

To close out this quickie, here are some pictures from the Park:

New Species:

• Levaillant’s cisticola
• Karoo scrub robin
• Angulate tortoise

It’s been 2 weeks since I posted my first entry for this year’s trip with a general overview of my plans for this year. Sorry it has taken me so long to post again – some of you have contacted me with concerns for my well-being given my total silence – but I spent the first full week in Cape Town getting some vehicle work done and making several upgrades to my vehicle accessories (e.g., new refrig, house battery, air compressor, etc.). Unfortunately, my business in Cape Town is still not finished, as I have yet to receive my updated, valid vehicle registration, which I need in order to leave the country and later return. SO, to kill some time, I just spent the last 5 days exploring the Cederberg Mountains, which are a rugged, mountainous area located in the Western Cape province of South Africa, roughly 200-300 km north of Cape Town.

The Cederberg mountains are part of the much larger greater Karoo semi-desert in southern Africa, which I introduced and described in the first leg of my journey in 2023. The Cederbergs are known for their dramatic sandstone formations, including the famous Maltese Cross and Wolfberg Arch, as well as for the numerous San rock paintings found within the area – all very reminiscent of the American southwest both in geological landform and ancient rock art (of the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloan People). The core of the Cederberg was designated as a wilderness area in 1973.

The mountains are home to the endangered Clanwilliam cedar tree, which is how the mountains got their name. This tree, once numerous in the Cederberg, was largely cut down for furniture and construction and now only survives at the highest elevations and most rugged locations. Although my hikes took me to some of the highest elevations and rugged places, I never saw this tree (or any other for that matter), so it must be extremely rare.

The vegetation of the Cederberg is dominated by high-altitude (or mountain) fynbos, which is predominantly low shrubland and heathland – again, very reminiscent of the arid American southwest in structure – and is found mostly along the coastal belt in southern and southwestern South Africa. Unlike the semi-desert of the America Southwest, however, the fynbos floristic biome is a major hotspot for plant diversity, with a large percentage of the plants being endemic (found nowhere else).

I camped my first nighs on the northern end of the Cederberg at a site called Kliphuis, which which situated along a stream in a small oasis of trees, and I had the place to myself.

I truly love South Africa this time of year because the Parks, campgrounds and trails are largely empty, and although the nights get quite cold and the mornings are a bit challenging to wake up to, the days are glorious with temperatures around 60 degree Fahrenheit – perfect hiking temperatures.

I did a wonderful half-day hike from Kliphuis, which was a perfect introduction to the Cederberg. Didn’t see much wildlife, except for a Klipspringer (dwarf antelope fond of rocky terrain), but the flowers and rocks were spectacular and I saw a really cool waterfall that cascaded down the cliff but flowed behind the rock in places and then emerged to fall over a ledge only to disappear again and then reemerge again below – very cool – it may not be too late to redesign my patio waterfall back home!

The following day was off-and-on rainy so I took advantage of the “bad” weather and took a long, mostly 4×4 trail over several passes along the eastern flank of the Cederberg and ended up down south at a campsite called Sanddrif, where I spent three nights. Along the way I stopped at an archeological site that feature some very cool San (Bushman) rock art dated to 5,000 years ago, along with some spectacular caves used by the San during that time, before they were extirpated by European colonists a couple hundred years ago.

From Sanddrif, I did an all-day hike that took me up about 3,000 feet to a spectacular rock formation called Wolfberg Crack and then on to Wolfberg Arch, a huge arch similar to those found in Utah’s Arches National Park. Traversing the “crack” was an adventure in rock scrambling and climbing. There were several hand-over-hand pull-ups on ropes to ascend boulders and walls, crawling on my belly through narrow rock tunnels, squeezing through extremely narrow clefts in the rock walls, and lots of climbing through slots in the rocks. It was an exhilarating experience that I wish I could have shared more with you, but I was mostly focused on surving the traverse that I took very few pictures – sorry!

The following day I drove a short distance to another “Nature Reserve” (more on this in a bit) called Kronriver and did another all-day hike up a mountain range and along the ridge past a couple of peaks in a big loop. Had the entire mountain range all to myself so far as I could tell. Again, as with my previous hikes and the entirety of the Cederberg, this area was a rock-lovers playground, with spectacular rock formations everywhere I looked. Got lots of inspiration for additional rock features at our home in Colorado.

I learned that the Cederberg has a core national Wildernes Reserve, but the bulk of the area is carved up into numerous private “Nature Reserves”. I put Nature Reserve in quotes, because what I observed was a series of working farms, mostly vineyards and fruit orchards (apples and pears I think), one located in each major valley bottom, each having a lodge and restaurant, cabins or chalets and a campground, and surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of wild, steep mountainous terrain with a few hiking trails and rock climbing features. You have to pay to access each “Nature Reserve” separately. These “farms”, of course, are all white-owned and run, and use cheap black labor to do all the farm labor. I am not quite sure if these “Nature Reserves” are truly motivated to conserve nature or simply labeled as such as a way to market themselves and attract paying tourists, or perhaps they get a tax break by designating themselves “Nature Reserves”. I visited 3 different “Nature Reserves” on my few hikes and paid separately for each hike.

OK, that’s all the rambling from me about my time in the Cederberg. Since I spent 4 full days hiking and driving in the Cederberg, I took a lot of pictures. Consequently, I put together a 7 minute slide show of my trip, depicting most of the things I described above. Enjoy!

The Cederberg slideshow

New Species:

• Karoo prinia
• Yellow canary
• African black duck
• Cape rockjumper
• Spotted eagle owl

To all my Africa overland blog-followers, welcome back to Africa 2025 and my not-so-conventional travel blog for my overland adventures in Africa! You may recall that this blog is very light on travel logistics (in contrast to your typical travel blog) and heavy on wildlife sightings and observations of stunning landscapes, with a smattering of observations on the human cultures encountered – but noting that photos and videos of the people encountered are rare owing to a sense of respect and sensitivity for their privacy.

First, a couple of business items pertaining to this blog. If you are subscribed to my blog then you are receiving email notifications of new blog posts. If you no longer want to receive these email notifications, then simply click on the “unsubscribe” link located at the bottom of the email notification (in very small print) and you will no longer receive these automated emails. Of course, you are still free to visit my blog site at “overlandwithkmcgee.com” at any time to view any posts whether you are subscribed or not. Also, as per last year, I love to hear from you by commenting on a post, but rather than replying to you in the post (which would require you to return to that post to see my reply), I will generally respond via email directly to you and only you. Now, on to my plans for this year’s journey.

As you may recall from, my stated plan for overlanding Africa was a three-stage, three-year journey through sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, I traveled from Cape Town South Africa north through the inlands of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya, ending in Nairobi at brother Mark’s house. The trip took me a little over 4.5 months and I visited some 35 or so National Parks and Reserves. My focus was on traversing up the middle (or inlands) of south and east Africa, with a strong emphasis on seeing as much African wildlife as possible. I commented frequently on the landscapes and the people, but I devoted most of my commentary, pictures and videos to my incredible wildlife encounters. And you may recall that I traveled in my fully kitted out Toyota Land cruiser troopie, affectionately named the “green dragon”, camping along the way in the Parks and Reserves, and sometimes in very remote places well off the beaten track.

Last year, in 2024, I departed from Nairobi, Kenya with Nancy, Caitlin, Mark and Kirsten in tow and eventually returned south to Cape Town, South Africa, this time heading down the east coast of Africa, focusing on the Parks and Reserves located on or near the coast. Specifically, I toured parts of Kenya that I missed in 2023, the coastline of Tanzania, with a short excursion to Zanzibar, the safer parts of Mozambique (i.e., avoiding the northeast province), southern Malawi, Lesotho and the east coast of South Africa. My trip was a little shorter in 2024, lasting a little over 3.5 months, owing to a later start. In addition, this trip featured more landscapes and hiking, but with some wildlife parks thrown in to keep me motivated.

My journey this year begins back in Cape Town where the Green Dragon is resting comfortably in storage. After taking care of some vehicle modifications and the usual overland prep work, I will head up the west coast of South Africa through the Western Cape Province en route to Namibia, where I will be joined by Nancy for a few weeks touring northern Namibia before hooking up with our great friends Steve and Ki for 6 weeks of exploring more of Namibia, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in northwestern South Africa and southwestern Botswana, and then back to Cape Town and a week on the coast before calling it end to another year’s journey. Visit the 2025 Route page on this website for more details on this year’s trip, including a map showing my intended and somewhat tortuous route.

Once again, on July 2nd of this year I will be heading back to Africa and what has become “my home away from home” – at least for the time being. As I am sure you are aware by now, not much gives me more pleasure than spending time observing wildlife in Africa, especially when sharing my passion with others – this year including Nancy, Steve and Ki in person, and all of you reading this blog virtually. So, if you love what you see here in Africa, remember that the clock is ticking, as the threats to Africa’s remaining wildlife populations are increasing every year.

See you on the trail!

After leaving De Hoop Nature Reserve, I headed south as far south as you can go on the continent of Africa to the southern tip at Cape Agulhas:

Cape Agulhas, also known as the “Cape of Needles”, is a rocky headland in thte Western Cape Province and it is the geographic southern tip of Africa and the beginning of the traditional dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is approximately half a degree of latitude, or 34 miles, further south than the Cape of Good Hope near Cape Town. Here, the warm Agulhas Current flows south along the east coast of Africa and retroflects back into the Indian Ocean. While retroflecting, it pinches off large ocean eddies (called Agulhas rings) that drift into the South Atlantic Ocean and take enormous amounts of heat and salt into the neighboring ocean. This mechanism constitutes one of the key elements in the global conveyor belt circulation of heat and salt.

Here’s the monument at the southern tip depicting the traditional dividing line between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Of course, the waters of the two oceans don’t literally meet at this dividing line, but rather they mix along a broad zone extending outward from this point. Nonetheless, it is a pretty significant landmark from a global perspective.

As I am sure you realize, I generally don’t take selfies, but I couldn’t help myself standing at such a geographical phenomenon:

Historically, the cape has been known to sailors as a major hazard. The sea off Cape Agulhas is notorious for winter storms and mammoth rogue waves, which can range up to 100 feet high and can sink even large ships. Over the past few hundred years it is believed that around 150 ships have sunk around Agulhas. Here’s one old wreck to support this claim:

The weather was rather raunchy at the Cape, so I opted to move on farther down the coast towards Cape Town while waiting for the weather to change, and I found a campsite right on the coast with the Green Dragon literally 20 feet from the rocky shoreline, but utterly exposed. However, the rain ceased, the wind stopped blowing, and a pair of black oystercatchers were calling from the rocks nearby – a I fitting last campsite for this epic journey.

From here, it is on to Cape Town, where I will service the Green Dragon and get it prepared for storage. I will undoubtedly have time to explore the penninsula of Table Moutain National Park and the Cape of Good Hope, and visit with the African penguins, but these are all things I reported on last year at the beginning of my journey, so I will not repeat it in this year’s blog, except I have show you at least a couple of penguin shots:

If you are new to my travel blog this year and want to hear about Cape Town and surroundings, you can find these posts on the blog way back at the bottom of the list.

So, until my return next year, it’s goodbye to all you dedicated followers that have accompanied me on this year’s journey and are still reading this blog. We saw lots of wildlife, explored some exotic places (e.g., Zanzibar), drove some off-the-beaten path roads, visited some really stunning landscapes, went on some amazing hikes, and met lots of different people. I hope you learned a few things along the way and enjoyed the wildlife, landscapes and people as much as I did. As hopefully this travel journey demonstrated, life is truly an adventure worth taking, again and again! The journey continues next year if all goes as planned….

Just in case you were wondering, the bird species in the video slideshow of Robberg Nature Reserve and Wilderness National Park were the African black oystercatcher, knysna turaco, and cape grassbird.

After leaving Wilderness National Park, I continued along the coast to a somewhat remote and wild section of the Cape coast to De Hoop Nature Reserve:

To get there, I took the “road less traveled” route, which required a pontoon ferry crossing – always fun – and miles and miles of rolling colorful farmland interspersed with ostrich farms (yes, ostrich are farmed for their meat):

De Hoop Nature Reserve is a nature reserve covering 130 square miles in the Western Cape Province, located about three hours east of Cape Town near Cape Agulhas, the southern tip of Africa. In the mid twentieth-century, the South African government bought the farms De Hoop and Windhoek with the intention to establish a wildlife farm for endangered species. In the mid 1970s, the area became dedicated to the conservation of the Cape Floral ecosystem, and became the southernmost nature reserve in Africa. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

The vegetation in De Hoop Nature Reserve is part of the world’s smallest and most threatened plant kingdom, known as the Cape Floral Kingdom. The reserve also contains one of the largest areas of the rare lowland fynbos (shrublands and heathlands). Indeed, the entire upland portion of the Reserve is covered by lowland fynbos, with scarcely a tree to be found anywhere except in the Rest Camp. Here’s what the landscape looks like:

Interestingly, the Reserve supports rather large numbers of eland, Cape mountain zebra, bontebok and ostrich, and many can be found in and next to the Rest Camp. You may recall from last year’s trip that we saw mountain zebra – not to be confused with the common Burchell’s or plains zebra – in Mountain Zebra National Park, where we also saw blesbok antelope. Blesbok and bontebok are subspecies and look very similar; both are striking in the contrasting rich brown and white colorings. The bontebok subspecies has an extremely restricted range in the Western Cape centered in this Reserve. Here’s a few photos:

De Hoop also includes a Marine Protected Area (MPA) covering 40 or 50 km of coastline and near-shore waters which represent the most important nursery and mating grounds in all of Africa for the southern right whale. There are supposedly 500 or more whales that come to this section of coast to give birth, nurse young and mate. During my brief visit to the beach dunes on my day hike, I saw several dozen individuals lollygaging around in the waters just off shore. I managed to capture one tail shot that was just in focus enough to prove it was a whale – sorry, but photographing a whale breaching is really hard from a distance when you don’t know where and when they will breach:

I camped at the De Hoop Nature Reserve campsite. My site was perched above the river with a nice overlooking view of the water where the river empties into a vlei – now completely flooded and essentially a lake – and the hills beyond. Unfortunately, I had a close neighboring camper separated from my site by a wooden fence. Here’s what it looked like:

Here’s a video slideshow of my day hike from my campsite along the vlei (i.e., currently a lake), through fynbos vegetation to the beach, and back to my campsite in a big loop at De Hoop. Note, it is springtime here in South Africa and the fynbos vegetation was in full flower. It was really beautful, in a desert bloom sort of way, which I tried to capture a little in my slideshow, but didn’t do it justice:

De Hoop Nature Reserve video slide show (6 minutes)

Ok, I’m off to the southern tip of Africa. See you there.

New Species:

1. Cape spurfowl
2. Great crested grebe

Sorry, my email notification of new posts is still not working.

After leaving Tsitsikamma National Park, I headed farther down the coast on the Garden Route, first to the Robberg Nature Reserve and then to Wilderness National Park:

After leaving Tsitsikamma, I stopped off for a short hike to an overlook at the Nature’s Valley section of the Garden Route National Park and then spent the night at a random campsite at a place called Buffels Bay, which turned out to be quite nice:

I spent the following very rainy day hiking at a regional nature reserve called Robberg Nature Reserve and Marine Protected Area, and it was a spectacular 10 km hike despite the rain. Located in the town of Plattenberg, the Reserve encompasses a narrow penninsular that sticks out several kilometers into the ocean, forming Plattenberg bay. The penninsular rises sharply from the sea forming dramatic cliffs and steep slopes, and is surrounded on all sides by rugged rocky shoreline. The vegetation above the rocks is almost entirely fynbos, which is simply low shrubs and heath that can survive in the harsh wind and salt spray environment. One of the features of the Reserve is the massive Cape fur seal colony. I saw many hundreds to several thousand seals both in the water swimming and on the rocky benches above the surf. It was a rainy, soaking wet day of hiking, with only 2 other hikers on the trail, but it was one of the best all time hikes nonetheless! The photos and video don’t do it justice. Rather than include photos here, I made a video slide show of this hike combined with one of my hikes at the next Park (see below).

After my rainy but glorious hike at Robberg, I headed to Wilderness National Park, which like Tsitsikamma is now incorporated in the Garden Route National Park. This Park is not wilderness, as we understand it, by a long shot, but rather named for the adjacent town called Wilderness. This Park, like Tsitsikamma and Nature’s Valley, protects indigenous coastal forest along with wetlands, lakes and riverine habitats. I camped at the Ebb and Flow campground right on the river, which was quite nice, and, to my delight, there were only a handful of other campers in the campground, and they were all some distance from me as they were closer to the ablutions.

I took a couple of hikes from the campground, one up the river to a waterfall and the other down the river to the ocean. Neither were terribly exciting, as they couldn’t compete with my previous hikes, but they allowed me to exercise my body so that was good enough for me. I included photos and videos of my hike up to the waterfall in the video slideshow and composite video below.

Here’s the link to the video slideshow of my Robberg penninsula hike and Wilderness National Park waterfall hike. Note, for you BIRDERS, there are a few species mix in: one easy ID, one not too difficult but easily confused with other similar species, and one challenge that will likely require use of a field guide (have fun, and let me know what you come up with):

Robberg and Wilderness hikes video slideshow (3 minutes)

And for those that like or only watch the videos (you know who you are), here’s a composite video of footage of those same two hikes:

Robberg and Wilderness composite (15 minutes)

Ok, on to my next Park on the Garden Route. See you there.

New Species:

1. Cape grassbird
2. African black oystercatcher

Notice, you may not have received an email notification of my last post for Addo Elephant National Park because my mail service was suspended for having too many spam comments. It is actually posted in case you want to go back and see it.

After leaving Addo Elephant National Park, I headed to the coast and south along it to Tsitsikamma National Park:

Tsitsikamma is a coastal reserve known for its indigenous forests, dramatic coastline, and the Otter Trail – a 45 km 5-day rugged shoreline hike. The park covers a 50 mile long stretch of coastline. The word “Tsitsikamma” originates from the native Khoekhoe language and means “clear water”, probably referring to the clear water of the Tsitsikamma River. The Park was established in 1964, but later was combined with a couple of other parks to create the Garden Route National Park. The Park represents the eastern anchor of what is referred to as “The Garden Route”, which is a glorious 190-mile stretch of coastline in South Africa, running from the small town of Mossel Bay (Mussel Bay) in the west to the mouth of the Storms River in Tsitsikamma National Park in the east. It’s called the Garden Route because of the lush coastal forests that line the wide sandy beaches and rocky shoreline.

Tsitsikamma Park conserves a considerable portion of the natural biota of the Garden Route. The primary vegetation consists of mountain and coastal fynbos (what we might call shrublands and heathlands), montane forest, sandy and rocky shoreline, and the inter-tidal and sub-tidal zones. I spent 3 nights in the Park, which afforded me the time to do a couple of long day hikes.

My first day hike combined an indigenous forest hike in the steep hillside leading down to the rocky shoreline with a hike to the famous suspension bridges over the mouth of Stormsriver and to a lookout point high up on the bluff overlooking the Park’s coastline. Here are some photos from these hikes:

On my second full day, I hiked the first section of the Otter trail, which led me to a beautiful waterfall and beyond to the first overnight hut on the trail. It was a stunningly beautiful hike along rugged rocky shoreline and bluffs – I would love to come back and do the full 5-day hike. Here is a photo journey:

I camped at the The Stormsriver Mouth Rest Camp. Yes, it as a typical South African National Park rest camp, hundreds of packed together campsites, chalets and the works, but you have heard my rant before. Fortunately, I found the one and only campsite nestled in the coastal scrub and relatively secluded and private (because it was the farthest you could get from the ablutions). And there was perhaps only 1 or 2 other campers in the entire campground, so it was actually pretty nice! Here’s my campsite and 1 of the 3 campground sections in the Park:

Here’s my composite video of my campground and hikes at Tsitsikamma National Park:

Tsitsikamma National Park composite (16 minutes)

Ok, next stop a little farther down the coast for some more hiking. See you there.

New Species:

1. Kelp gull
2. Knysna turaco

After leaving Dwesa Nature Reserve, I drove south along the coast to my final wildlife safari destination, Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province:

Addo was founded in 1931 in order to provide a sanctuary for the eleven remaining elephants in the area. The Park currently covers 633 square miles, third largest park in South Africa, and has proved to be very successful, currently supporting more than 600 elephants and a large number of other mammals, including lion, leopard (no cheetah), buffalo, and several antelope species.

As far as the landscape goes, honestly, it’s not the most spectacular compared to the other Parks I have visited. The Park is divided into several sections, including a coastal section that I did not visit, but I suspect is much like the other coastal Parks I have visited, and several inland sections that range from rolling hills to more rugged mountains covered by a mixture of shrubland (or thicket or bushveld as they call it, as it is mostly low stature shrubs and trees of varying densities and many of them covered with thorns – think Pinyon-Juniper woodlands of the southwest) and grasslands either in the uplands or in the valley bottom depressions that they call a “vlei” if it stays wet during the rainy season. Here are a few photos of the landscape:

Ok, the landscape may not be jaw-dropping beautiful, but boy-oh-boy did this Park live up to its namesake – elephants, elephants, and more elephants. As I said above, this Park is purported to have roughly 600 elephants, but on a single drive to 3 or 4 waterholes, I probably saw 200-300 individuals, and this was in just one section of the Park. There’s not a lot of other wildlife – a few small herds of buffalo and lots of zebras, warthogs, and greater kudus, but the incredible concentration of elephants was truly phenomenal. And did I ever tell you how much I enjoy watching elephants? They are always doing something interesting, especially interacting with each other. It reminded me a lot of when Nancy and I visited Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe last year and camped at waterholes and witnessed the amazing elephant jamboree there. Because this was my last wildlife safari park on this trip and because I love watching elephants, I put a lot of elephant footage in the composite video below, but I threw in a little footage of some other species and the landscape to make it more interesting and diverse. I also took lots of photos as well since it was my last viewing for most, if not all, of these species. See the photo gallery below for a sample.

For my first two nights, I camped at Addo Main Camp in the main section of the Park. Have I already told you how much I dislike South African Park campgrounds? They are paranoid about wild animals in the campgrounds, so the entire campgrounds are fenced into keep animals out and people in. They pack campsites together like sardines in a can, and the South Africa campers appear to like it this way – go figure? The campgrounds are always part of a larger compound that includes chalets of various luxuries, restaurants, shops, gas stations, etc. Basically, their “rest camps” are like little cities and there are people running around everywhere. In the campsites, you hear conversations on all sides. You get the picture! Not my kind of camping, but sometimes there is simply no better option and you have to accept it – as was the case here in the main camp of Addo (but see below). I so don’t like the campgrounds that I forgot to take a picture – sorry, my description above will have to suffice. Ok, enough of a rant.

For my third and last night, I abandoned the “big city” campground and splurged for a platform tent at a small camp called Spekboom located in the middle of the Park. With just 5 tents, each well spaced out and private, and situated adjacent to a water hole with elephants visiting all day and night and grumbling and trumpeting their presence, it was glorious. And I was the only one in the camp! Why didn’t I stay there all three nights? It cost twice as mch ($100 versus $50 per day), but it was well worth it. Here’s a photo of my tent nestled in the spekboom bushveld (note, spekboom is one of the dominant shrubs in this vegetation type):

Sadly, I’m leaving Addo and my last safari on this year’s trip – argh! Next stop, several coastal parks and reserves that are part of the Garden Route National Park on the Eastern Cape and then to Cape Town and my final destination. See you there.

WARNING! Here’s my very long composite video from Addo. You probably only want to watch this if you really love elephants like me and have some time on your hands to kill, perhaps as a substitute for a Netflix show. Sorry for the length but this was my last wildlife safari park on this year’s journey, so I went kind of crazy. Also, this Park was all about elephants, which I really love to watch, so there is a lot of elephant footage – I simply couldn’t help myself:

Addo Elephant National Park composite (55 minutes)

Photo Gallery:

New Species:

1. Cape crane
2. Blue-mantled crested flycatcher
3. Cape weaver
4. Spottedbacked weaver

After leaving Lesotho, I headed southeast back towards the coast to begin my journey along the eastern Cape back to Cape Town. I had a random one-night stopover en route to my next destination, Dwesa Nature Reserve on the coast:

Dwesa Nature Reserve is administratively combined with the adjacent Cwebe Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape Province. Parts of the Reserve were established in 1927 and later expanded in 1975, covering an area of 21 square miles, and it is combined with the Dwesa-Cwebe Marine Protected Area, established in 1989 and covering an area of 74 square miles. On one side, the reserve is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, and on the other by rugged coastal , scarp forest, coastal scrub (i.e., dense tangle of short trees, shrubs and vines that is almost impenetrable) and coastal grasslands. The Reserve is split into two parts (Dwesa and Cwebe) by the Mbashe River. I only visited the Dwesa part of the Reserve as it is the only part with public camping. I spent two wonderful nights in the Reserve and on my full day I took a six-hour hike through the Reserve to one of the rocky headlands, as shown in these photos:

I camped at the Dwesa public campsite. Interestingly, when I arrived at the gate after driving two hours on gravel road from the main highway, they told me that there were no accommodations because everything was undergoing renovation, including the campground. Consequently, the place was empty except for a few staff at the gate and reception. After a few lost heart beats, thinking I would have to retrace my path and find another place to stay, I talked them into letting me camp because I am totally self-contained; i.e., I have my own water and don’t really need a flush toilet. So, I had the entire Reserve, including the campground to myself. And what a delightful campsite it was, situated in an opening within the coastal scrub along a small stream a short distance from the beach. However, if all the designated sites had been occupied it would have been a zoo, as the sites are packed together with barely enough room for a vehicle and tent. I parked the Green Dragon under a large flowering tree that was buzzing all day with sunbirds and weavers -glorious. Here’s my campsite:

Although this Reserve protects important indigenous coastal ecosystems (i.e., scarp forest and coastal scrub and grassland), I was surpised and disappointed at how run down the infrastructure was: roads mostly overgrown and impassable, signs non-existant or grow over, structures old and falling apart, foot bridges falling apart, etc.. I was quite surprised, because South African Parks are generally extremely well maintained. They claimed they were renovating the facilities, which were supposed to be done in June, but I saw almost no evidence of renovation except one new building that I think is going to be an ablution for the campground. What a shame. This Park at one time must have had top-notch infrastructure and accommodations, but clearly they abandoned all maintenance years ago and everything is deteriorating. The supposed renovation hasn’t even scratched the surface. The hired workers are mowing the grass while the buildings and bridges and roads are falling apart – go figure. Sorry, I digress, but it’s just because this is so atypical of South African Parks.

Ok, sadly, I am off to my last wildlife park and safari, Addo Elephant National Park. See you there.

New Species:

1. Green twinspot
2. Greater double-collared sunbird
3. Southern boubou
4. Kysna woodpecker
5. Olive woodpecker
6. Cape ganet
7. Blue-collared crested flycatcher