Knysna and the Garden Route - some observations

We arrived in George a little over a week ago, picked up the hire car and made our way to Knysna. It never occurred to me that the 60 km journey would take over an hour. The N2 is a national road but is not quite in the highway category. The speed limit changes regularly between 100, 80 and 60 kpm.

The road makes its way through towns, unlike some of the country's major highways where the roads bypass the smaller places.

What has amazed me is the local compliance to speed limits. The vast majority of motorists comply. With a 60 kpm limit they travel at 60, not at 65 or 69 but at 60! I have not seen this anywhere in the world. What it suggests to me is that if you speed you will be caught.

As we travelled from Knysna to the Elephant Park yesterday, we came across a stretch of the N2 (a national road) where only one lane was open for a 2km stretch. The other lane was closed for roadworks. There was a system in place to allow traffic through from one direction, and then from another. As we travelled through it became apparent that the actual road works were all at the one end for a mere 30 metres. The mind boggles!

The other major observation here is the average age of the residents. It seems that it is a choice retirement destination. The result is a shortage of young people or a balanced spread of ages. This is quite a shame. It seems that most of us have to hit the cities to make a living.

We have stopped to eat at a number of establishments since arriving. The first place was excellent, but the atmosphere was somewhat lacking. A few other tables were occupied by much older couples. A beach bar in Sedgefield served chips that looked fine but were covered with 2mm of oil. I ate them all and lived to regret it later. We stopped at an Italian restaurant where I opted for an Italian salad. How can you get that so wrong? One of our worst eating experiences ever. Then there was a pub restaurant. We chose a sirloin steak, according to the menu the meat is well aged. I had vegetables instead of chips. It took me a while to realise why they were so bad. They came from one of those frozen vegetable selections! The steak was equally bad.

A drive to Plettenburg Bay provided a welcome change. A beachside restaurant provided good food at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, the winds were just too strong to allow us to enjoy the beach. Finally, the Ocean Basket last night was good.

Knysna Elephant Park 2

The park was established in 1994 with two elephants. All the elephants are orphans. They have been trained so that visitors able to touch and interact with them.

Knysna Elephant Park

These are two of the babies. One is three, the other five.

Knysna Heads - view from the top

A view from Sedgefield

Knysna - View from the house

Knysna

Arrived in George Wednesday. The plane was delayed and landed about an hour later than scheduled. Collected the car for the short drive to Knysna. The drive turned out to be a lot slower than expected. Long stretches of road with 60 kph speed limit.

All the way they view is quite stunning. Eventually we arrived and were very thankful for the advance party - the sons- that had organized supplies and especially food.

The house itself is stunning with great views of the lagoon. The weather so far has been warm and pleasant. Not as hot as I would have hoped, but still very pleasant.

Of course the thing that makes a massive difference is just being away from it all. Far away from the urban sprawl, the heavy traffic and the rest.

So far have been to the Knysna Waterfront and the mall. Drove down to Buffel Bay - a very quiet and secluded beach with long expanses of beautiful sand. One of the first things I noticed was a Jellyfish lying on the beach. Forewarned is forearmed so we managed to avoid those.

So far have been feeling okay, so hopefully will continue that way. Photos to follow.