TRAVEL TRAVEL GARDEN ROUTE

RUN FOR THE HILLS! Want to escape the summer crush on the coast? Head inland to the – there’s pinot noir to be sipped and cool forest trails waiting to be explored.

WORDS & PICTURES JON MINSTER

FYNBOS HIGH. Looking west into the Outeniqua Nature Reserve, near the summit of Robinson Pass.

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he Garden Route is booming. December holidays, which is obviously their Word on the street is that up busiest time. Marketing assistant Alison Nell to 30 families are moving to meets me and explains what’s on offer: “Our the coast every month from game drives are most popular,” she says. “But elsewhere in . we also have horse rides, a restaurant, a picnic , , Klein area, a spa…” TBrak, Groot Brak, George… There’s hardly a The picnic area looks appealing: private, gap between them any more, with new houses shaded areas next to a small dam, adjacent to springing up on every available hillside. a sparkling swimming pool and a miniature It’s even busier during school holidays, when Water World for the kids, with slides and everyone who isn’t living there already arrives fountains to jump through. Zebra, impala and in loaded Fortuners towing Venter trailers for wildebeest graze on the other side of the dam. a week or two of fun in the sun. The morning game drive lasts three hours The buzz is great, but it can get exhausting and departs daily at 10 am. Again, my scepticism – and that’s where the Outeniqua Mountains is kicked into touch as guide Devon de Villiers come into play. A few kilometres inland and points the Land Cruiser into the hills. I was it’s almost like you’re in a different world. expecting a glorified tour of a zoo, but as soon Mountains loom in your windscreen and quirky as we’ve bumped our way out of the valley, the farm stalls tempt you with tea and scones. scale of the reserve becomes apparent. We do You can ride your mountain bike or – if you manage to find the reserve’s three lions, but it want to disappear completely – you can hike takes some work and they’re nearly invisible in a forest trail and have a picnic lunch under deep shade next to a river – just like lions in the a 900-year-old yellowwood with only Kruger or the Kgalagadi. Likewise the elephants: turacos for company. They’re off in the distance and happy to be there. Jump in and let’s go! The real pleasure of the game drive, for me, is being able to sit on the back bench of the Cruiser with the wind in my hair and just be. Lions for breakfast The views from the hills are amazing – of the The Garden Route is not just a popular holiday hazy Outeniqua Mountains and also of the destination for South Africans, it also draws coastline – and we see some incredible things, thousands of international visitors annually. like a leopard tortoise the size of a small coffee Catering to the demand for “wild Africa”, there table and two equally gigantic mongooses. are dozens of game reserves where Sven from Children are welcome – they’ll love all the Sweden can get a glimpse of a buffalo or a zebra. factual snippets provided by Devon and his Having been spoiled by real wilderness in parks fellow guides. Indeed, Botlierskop is a great like the Kruger and the Kgalagadi, I have never place to head to if you’re simply looking for seen the appeal of visiting one of these smaller some down-time away from the campsite chaos reserves. But that’s about to change… at Hartenbos. “Go to Botlierskop,” says Meike Prenzel, of Avenues Guesthouse in Mossel Bay where I THREE CHEERS FOR EIGHT BELLS spent the night. Meike and her husband Martin KZN in the Southern Cape (opposite page, top left). René moved to South Africa from Berlin 14 years ago, The closer you drive to the mountains behind Bongers is the man in charge at and they have their fingers on the tourism pulse Mossel Bay, the more it feels like you’ve warped Eight Bells Mountain Inn. Here he in this part of the world. “We always send our the space-time continuum and somehow is in the historic Billiard Room, with guests there. It’s not what you’d expect.” transported yourself to the KZN Midlands. The an old film projector once used to I don’t actually know what I was landscape is a similar patchwork of dairy farms screen movies for guests. The hotel expecting, but I wasn’t expecting something and up-and-down dirt roads, often blanketed has beautiful grounds (opposite this big. Botlierskop Private Game Reserve in mist. This feeling is compounded when you page, below) – let the kids run free is a 5 000-hectare sanctuary in the hills walk into Eight Bells Mountain Inn at the foot while you munch scones with jam behind Mossel Bay, with all sorts of larney of Robinson Pass – a classic family hotel of the and cream. accommodation for people looking for an sort that KZN does so well. Out of Africa experience without having to Eight Bells has been around in some incar­ BUCK & BEACH (opposite page, top venture too far into Africa. The day visitor’s nation since the 1800s, but it was during the right). Bontebok stroll along a hilltop area is equally impressive – it feels like a cross 1930s that the farm became a popular spot for ridge in Botlierskop Private Game between Skukuza and a wine farm. visitors, especially seamen from Royal Navy Reserve, with the houses of Klein Workmen are busy with maintenance when ships docked in Mossel Bay. This link with the Brak in the background. I arrive, getting everything shipshape for the navy explains the name: At sea, a bell was rung

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IN OTHER WORDS once each half hour of a four-hour watch. The is a bit of a shock. Luckily I don’t have to duke phrase “eight bells” signified the end of the it out with the trucks for long: I turn left onto watch – time to rest. Peter and Jean Brown were the towards Uniondale, and right a little way responsible for turning it into the much-loved further, to Herold and Montagu Pass. family hotel it is today, during their 33-year tenure from 1974 to 2007. The current owners Nico Fourie traded a life next to the Limpopo are brothers Charles and René Bongers, with for a life below Cradock Peak – the highest Réne in charge of day-to-day operations. point in the Outeniqua Mountains at 1 578 m. Meike & Martin Prenzel “I’ve upgraded the facilities as required,” he Herold Wines is just behind the village of the Avenues Guesthouse, tells me over tea in the gloriously old-school same name and it’s the least pretentious winery Mossel Bay lounge. “But I’ve tried not to change the feeling. you’re likely to visit. Much of this has to do “Here’s a beautiful drive if you That feeling – that tradition – is what makes with Nico himself, who brings a welcome dose want to escape for the day: people keep coming back. They experienced the of two-tone khaki to the business of sniffing From Mossel Bay, take the hotel a certain way as a child, and now they and sipping. That’s not to say his wines aren’t to , turn right over bring their own children because they know exceptional – they are, especially his 2016 pinot Cloete’s Pass and come back over that nothing has changed.” noir – it’s just that he doesn’t take it all as the mountains via Garcia’s Pass to Eight Bells is worth a visit even if you’re seriously as some other winemakers do. Riversdale, then home along the not staying over. Sit outside in the dappled I sip wine and admire the pincushions in full . You’ll see plenty of wildflowers sunshine and have a toasted sandwich while bloom behind the tasting room, while Nico tells in spring.” the kids run around. Soak up the views and me about a fire that came scarily close in 2018, listen to the hubbub of other happy families and how he once saw a caracal bring down a also enjoying lunch. Before you leave, peek into klipspringer. He also tells me how a mistake led the Billiard Room with its original yellowwood to one of his most popular products: “I wanted floor and interesting artefacts from times gone to make a chardonnay-pinot noir blend and by, like a typewriter that once produced the name it after a white lamb, but the pinot skins restaurant menu, and a vintage projector that stayed in for too long and the wine turned from used to screen movies for guests. Imagine an era white to pink. I rebranded and that wine became when travellers would arrive on horseback and Schaam Schaap instead – a very embarrassed dismount under the same 200-year-old oak tree sheep! People love it and now I make it outside for a quick pint in the Bosun’s Whistle. deliberately. The 2017 vintage is sold out.” Tummies full? Nicely rested? Good. It’s time Everyone loves a story, and Nico will fill Alison Nell to drive some passes. your head with them as he leads you through Botlierskop Private a tasting. Stay for lunch afterwards: a toasted Game Reserve chicken mayo costs a measly R55, and a cheese “Jakkalsvlei is a wonderful winery How close is the ? platter that will feed the table goes for R250. in a valley near Herbertsdale. Go Closer than you think! One of the joys of Nutella and Crunchie pancake for dessert? Now for a tasting and stay for lunch.” driving over Robinson Pass – besides testing your we’re talking! car’s stability control on the sinuous bends – is watching how swiftly the pastureland gives way to dusty ostrich farms. It’s almost unbelievable Lazy days at Oakhurst how different the landscape is from one side of From Herold, I potter happily down Montagu the mountain to the other. Pass, alone with my thoughts, while the I pause at a viewpoint on the pass and on the other side of the valley look west into the Attaquas Kloof, where a hums with traffic. Why would you want to be KAROO TO COAST (opposite page, hellish mountain-bike race passes through there when you could be here? clockwise from top). The Mount Hope each January, and south towards the sea, On the other side of George, I disobey the road cuts behind the Outeniquas which is invisible under a blanket of mist. The Google Maps voice guiding me back to the through a quintessential Little car’s temperature gauge climbs as I approach N2 and wiggle my way through the suburbs to Karoo landscape. , but I don’t go all the way into the Seven Passes Road – the old road between The Woodville Big Tree – an town. Instead, I turn off about 16 km before, George and Knysna that rollercoasters from one 850-year-old Outeniqua yellowwood – where a sign – “Mount Hope” – points down valley to the next through forest and farmland. is just behind Wilderness, accessed via a lonely dirt road. This road is about 30 km long Like Montagu Pass, it’s a reminder that national the Seven Passes Road. A photograph and eventually spits me out on the busy roads are not the only access points to the can’t do the size of the tree justice. just north of the Outeniqua Pass. It’s a splendid, Garden Route. Nico Fourie in his underground head-clearing half hour of koppies, blue sky and My destination for the night is on this cellar at Herold Wines, with a hoard of the occasional prickly pear. I don’t see another road: Oakhurst Farm behind Wilderness. deliciousness waiting to be labelled. vehicle, so the sudden truck crush on the N12 Jake and Claire Crowther are at the helm;

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the sixth-generation descendants of the original people who are closest to the forest feel the rain owner, Henry Dumbleton, who bought the land upon their cheeks and smell the mist drifting in 1820, unseen, while serving in the British up from the sea, they know it is nothing but army in India. Oakhurst is an enormous dairy the breathing of the forest and then they nod farm that brims with history, from the avenue and smile to one another in the streets of the Candice James of ancient, ghostly bluegums that welcomes you villages, and tourists looking for the sun can Boerqi Bistro, Ruiterbos as you drive in, to the whitewashed church that only wonder at their secret.” “Try the venison pie. You’ll want to was built in the 1870s. You can read the story of Thesen knew the secret, and Dalene Matthee order another one!” the farm in the guest-information file in your certainly did. If you’re one of those sun-seekers cottage; it’s basically the origin story of industry Thesen writes about, fear not: You can know in this part of South Africa, peppered with the secret too, you just have to drive a few characters seemingly drawn from the pages of kilometres inland, pick a trail and walk until a Dalene Matthee novel. the canopy closes overhead, until the only Jake is in charge of the dairy activities and sounds are insects in the undergrowth, your Claire has turned a number of buildings on heart beating and the wind in the leaves. the farm into classy, comfortable self-catering Fanie Smuts cottages, including an old blacksmith’s I spend my last night away even deeper in Harmony Distillery forge from the 19th century. A few years ago the forest, at Diepwalle – an old forestry station “We make craft gin using honeybush AfriCamps also came on board and built eight now also part of the Garden Route National grown on our farm in the Ruiterbos luxury safari tents next to a dam. Everything at Park. It’s a weeknight and I’m the only visitor. area. We’ve recently opened a Oakhurst is geared towards family fun: There’s I’m busy admiring an elephant skeleton in the restaurant and tasting room in a pump track for riding bikes, a river trail to a small museum when I hear a key turning in Hartenbos – it’s called Salt & Copper waterfall, horses to ride, an archery range, dairy a lock. I nearly jump out of my skin and make and it’s in the Seashells building off tours, fishing in the dam, kayaks for guests… a dash for the door. the . Come and visit!” “You have space to breathe here,” says “I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone was in Claire over coffee in her kitchen. “But we’re here,” says ranger Wilfred Oraai, unlocking for also so close to the sea – it’s a 15-minute drive me again. He’s a small man, wiry, with eyes to Wilderness. People love being able to go that shine like sunlight on a river pool. He’s to the beach and experience all of that, then worked in this part of the forest for 31 years and come back here for peace and quiet.” was instrumental in helping researchers track I get what she’s saying. At sunset I light a down Oupoot, a female elephant estimated to braai on the veranda of my cottage, watching as be about 45 years old, and confirmed as the last cows are herded home and mist slowly swallows remaining elephant in the forest. Wilfred Oraai the Outeniquas again. A Cape eagle-owl calls It’s a terribly sad story, since elephants Diepwalle, Garden Route and its mate answers from somewhere on the are social animals and a female on her own National Park other side of the valley. is neither happy nor healthy. It’s also an “My favourite hike is the 9 km indictment of humankind, considering that Elephant Trail. It might be longer than elephants once roamed here in their thousands. the other Elephant trails, but it’s less Elephant whispers Wilfred looks crestfallen when I bring up hilly and takes you to some special What would a trip to the Knysna Forest be Oupoot, so I change the subject to what the places in the forest.” without a visit to the final resting place of Ms forest means to him. His eyes light up again Matthee herself? The author of Fiela’s Child and and he says without hesitation: “The forest is Circles in a Forest, who brought the mythology spirit. It’s life. When I go into Knysna I get TIMELESS OAKHURST (opposite page, of this special place to life, is buried at the foot a headache.” top.) The chapel on Oakhurst farm, built of a towering Outeniqua yellowwood at Krisjan Indeed, I can also feel blood pulsing in in the 1870s, still hosts regular Sunday se Nek in the Garden Route National Park. my temples as I crawl through town the next services and is a popular wedding venue. There are some cars in the parking area, but morning, on my way back home to Cape Town. Claire and Jake Crowther have turned the their occupants are all out hiking. I’m alone at I’m driving too slowly, my head still thick with farm into a wonderful family destination. the tree and I listen as its 900-year-old branches mountains and forests and dirt roads where On his rounds at the dairy, Jake is ably creak against the boughs of young pretenders there are no taxis to cut you off. I notice a assisted by golden retriever Bentley. straining towards the light. Christmas tree in a shopping mall foyer, and In a book called Country Days, published municipal workers frantically trying to unblock HOW TO DISAPPEAR (opposite page, in 1974, Norwegian-South African author a stormwater drain. Yes, the Garden Route is bottom). There are three different day Hjalmar Thesen writes: “Like venerable old gearing up for another frenzied summer season. hikes at Diepwalle. Pick any of them and giants of a vanished age the great stinkwood I console myself by thinking about Diep­ you’ll be swallowed by the forest in a and yellowwood trees stand alone, swaying walle, Oakhurst, Herold, Botlierskop. The others matter of metres. and nodding their approval… And when the don’t know about those places, but you do…

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to Oudtshoorn to Oudtshoorn to Willowmore Uniondale N9 Mount Hope turn-off N12 to Joubertina WHERE TO EAT N9 R328 BOERQI BISTRO A funky farm stall and restaurant R339 Outeniqua Garden Route BOERQI BISTRO BOERQI BISTRO in Ruiterbos, at the foot of Nature Reserve Herold National Park N12 Herold Wines Outeniqua Robinson Pass. Try the Boerqi Dog Robinson Millwood Attaquas Kloof Montagu THE TEA JUNXION Outeniqua to () – boerewors on a toasted Outeniqua Cradock Peak Garden Route Trail Park Karatara Dalene Matthee roosterkoek with cheddar, onion Woodville Big Tree Memorial Diepwalle marmalade and sundried tomato Eight Bells Mountain Inn Boerqi Bistro The Tea Junxion Seven Passes Road Totties Farm mustard. Their pizzas are great, too. Oakhurst Farm Kitchen George 044 631 0125; R339 Botlierskop R102 N2 boerqibistro.com Private Game Reserve Wilderness R404 Sedgefield N2 Knysna R328 Groot Brak River Goukamma to HEROLD WINES Nature Reserve Klein Brak River A wine tasting costs R30 per Buffels Bay Brenton-on-Sea person, waived if you buy a bottle Hartenbos (you will). Meals are simple and delicious. Try the spinach-and-feta Indian Ocean Mossel Bay quiche (R65) or order a cheese N2 Avenues Guesthouse HEROLD WINES platter for the table (R250), to Albertinia 20 km with four cheeses and all the trimmings, like ciabatta, biltong spread, olives, nuts, pesto, biscuits, INFO FOR DAY TRIPPERS ham and salami. 072 833 8223; WHERE WE STAYED BOTLIERSKOP PRIVATE dairy (R80 per adult; R40 per child). R250 per child under 12 – the rate heroldwines.co.za GAME RESERVE Make arrangements in advance. includes a tea/coffee stop in the AVENUES GUESTHOUSE Three-hour guided game drive 084 384 1266; oakhurst.co.za forest and lunch at Diepwalle. Book THE TEA JUNXION The perfect cross between a B&B B&B; R410 per child aged 6 – 12; (daily at 10 am) R530 per person. at least two days in advance. There’s Enjoy freshly baked scones with and a backpackers, centrally free for kids under 6. Sundowner game drive R780 per GARDEN ROUTE a similar tour on mountain bikes. cream and jam (R50) in a shaded located in Mossel Bay. The rooms 044 631 0000; eightbells.co.za person, snacks and drinks included. NATIONAL PARK 044 535 9033; bhejane.com garden off the Seven Passes Road are simply furnished but spotless, Game viewing on horseback: R330 Entrance fees vary between the near George. The plants look and the breakfast is delicious. OAKHURST FARM COTTAGES per person per hour. Book a picnic different sections: R38 per adult GARDEN ROUTE TRAIL PARK so amazing because it’s also a There’s a communal lounge for There are so many options! The spot for R650, which includes a and R19 per child in the Wilderness A few years ago, dairy farmer Rob nursery. Win! guests, and a sparkling pool. Forge sleeps six – it’s a renovated picnic basket for two people, a section, for example; per adult Dormehl built the most fantastic 044 877 1158; “The Tea Junxion” Rates: From per person blacksmith’s forge from the middle bottle of wine and access to the and R23 per child in the Knysna network of single-track mountain- on Facebook sharing, depending on the season. 1800s and probably the most pool and children’s play area. section (free with a Wild card). Fees biking trails on his farm in the hills 044 691 1097; charming option on the farm. 044 696 6055; botlierskop.co.za apply even if you just want to take behind Sedgefield. It fast became a TOTTIES FARM KITCHEN avenues-guesthouse.com There are also five cottages, each a quick turn past the Woodville top destination for mountain bikers, An institution in Rheenendal, of which sleeps six; four units in OUTENIQUA NATURE RESERVE Big Tree near Wilderness, or the with trails to suit the whole family. named after Florence Eleanor EIGHT BELLS MOUNTAIN INN the Schoolyard, each of which If you’re feeling fit and adventurous, Dalene Matthee Memorial near Sadly, a fire in 2018 destroyed van Reenen who started the Various accommodation options sleeps four; and eight AfriCamps there are some epic day hikes in Rheenendal. There are cycling most of the network and the park original general dealer in the area on a lovely property at the foot tents, each of which sleeps five. the mountains. The Kouma Trail routes and hiking trails galore. was closed – temporarily at first, but in 1922, servicing the staff from of Robinson Pass, about 35 km All the accommodation is self- DIEPWALLE (13,8 km), for example, starts sanparks.org such was the devastation that Rob her husband’s sawmill, and the north of Mossel Bay. Stay in a catering, but if you forgot the and ends on Robinson Pass and considered closing for good. Luckily woodcutters from the Millwood newer wooden cabin or in one of ProNutro at home you can order guarantees enormous views. KNYSNA FOREST for us, he changed his mind, set area. The decor is eclectic, there’s the original rondavels dating back a delectable breakfast basket DIEPWALLE Hiking is free. See more at One of the best ways to experience to work fixing everything up and a neat kids’ playground and the nearly a century, each of which with farm-fresh produce that There are nine camping decks in pitching your own tent, four of the capenature.co.za the forest is to join a half-day tour in the park is planned to reopen in menu is extensive. Try the “Bark has been tastefully renovated you prepare yourself. the forest, each of which has a decks have permanently erected your own vehicle with Bhejane 4x4 December 2019. Fingers crossed. and Shavings” breakfast (eggs, inside. The bell-shaped swimming Rates: From R1 650 per night, plug point, a small bar fridge and canvas dome tents, each with two OAKHURST FARM Adventures. The route goes through Take your mountain bike if bacon, sausage, tomato, chips and pool is a highlight. Guests can play depending on the choice of a counter top to prepare food. beds inside (no linen). Day visitors can do archery (R150 a special concession area closed to you’re going to the Garden Route toast; R58) washed down with bowls and tennis, or go for a walk accommodation and the season; The facilities were tired when we Rates: R230 per person normal per person), ride a horse (rates on the public, and a knowledgeable these holidays – you don’t want to a cappuccino (R26). along one of the clearly marked AfriCamps from R1 340 per night. visited, and cleanliness didn’t seem camping; R470 per person in one request), fish in the dam (R150 per guide will be in constant contact miss this. 044 389 0092; Rooster Trails. 084 384 1266; to be a priority, but the location is of the dome tents. person) and go on a tour of the via two-way radio. R450 per adult; gardenroutetrailpark.com tottiesfarmkitchen.co.za Rates: From R955 per adult sharing oakhurst.co.za unbeatable. If you don’t feel like sanparks.org

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