Wildernessparagliding and canoeing

The eighth chapter of the South Africa trip. After Kruger our Garden Route began: a road along the south coast with forests, lagoons and beaches. The first stop is the village of Wilderness.

A day on the road

The whole day was spent travelling. First the transfer from the camp: you also have to check out when leaving the park: the record-keeping there is strict. Then the airport and a flight to George with a connection.

The same day we rented a car from Pace. It all went fine, the rules there aren’t strict at all. The employee who handed over the car was very surprised by how closely we inspected it, read the terms and recorded every scratch. He said that’s not how it’s done in South Africa. One of my friends was our only driver, so from then on we travelled in short daily stretches.

We stayed not in George itself but nearby, in Wilderness.

Wilderness Beach

In the morning we headed first to Wilderness Beach. We had breakfast there too and went for a really brisk walk along the ocean.

Paragliding at the Map of Africa

Then: paragliding. It’s an amazing thing and I adore it. You take off near the Map of Africa viewpoint: the river bends there so that from above its outline looks like the continent. I recommend it to everyone: the views are incredible.

A canoe and a waterfall

After that we had a canoe trip with a short hike. It works like this: you rent a canoe, paddle upriver, leave it at a landing, walk to the waterfall, then return to the canoe and paddle back.

We rented our canoes from Eden Adventures, one double and one single for the three of us, and paddled along the Touw River. Nowhere did it say how long you’d be paddling. It came to forty minutes one way. Then we walked for about an hour on an almost flat trail to the waterfall, had a little look at nature and went back the same way.

As soon as we paddled back, it started to rain. But we made it in good time for the evening. We got everything done. The next morning we left Wilderness towards Knysna.