Knysna - Garden Route - South Africa
Badger's Lodge

South Africa Tour 2009

In February – March we travelled with our children, Marta 6 years, Emma 3 years, through the Northern and Western Cape of South Africa. A family holiday with 4x4 and off-road trailer, which carries the camping equipment.
22. Feb 2009: Knysna – Karoo National park. We travelled towards the Karoo NP near Beaufort West via the fantastic gorge of Meeiringspoort.

23. Feb 2009. Karoo Nationalpark, Main Rest Camp. Game Drive in Karoo NP. Beautiful landscape, rough and deserted. Not too much game but good sightings of Zebra and Kudu. Heavy thunderstorms at night.

24. Feb 2009: Karoo NP – Upington. The next morning we packed up quickly while the rain had stopped and headed for the Kalahari. We spent the night on a private Guestfarm 50 km north of Upington. This night we booked into a chalet as more thunderstorms were approaching. The chalet is built on the banks of a dam. After heavy downpours at night the waterlevel in the dam raised and when we left the next morning the water was already reaching the doorstep and we just made it with the vehicle through the watercrossing before it was too deep.

25. Feb 2009: Upington – Kgaligadi National Park, Nossob Camp. About midday we arrived at the Kgaligadi NP. The red dunes are covered in green and yellow flowers as there has been quite a bit of rain the previous weeks. We check in at Twee Revieren Camp but carry on for Nossob Camp, where we want to spend 2 nights. On route we see lots of gemsbock, wildebeest, meerkats and of course springbocks.

26. Feb 2009: Nossob Camp. We built up our tent under a huge tree, which gives us good shade during the day. At night we had many jackals in the camp. They looked for food but also like shoes! Luckily we packed away all shoes. The next morning we did a game drive. Not much game is to be seen as we were already quite late in it got very hot. The rest of the day we spent at the pool in the camp. The water is nice and warm – not really refreshing, but lovely to float and play in. The kids loved it. In the evening when it was already dark we walked to the near by game and bird hide at the camp entrance. We were lucky as a big male lion came to drink at the waterhole.

27. Feb 2009: Nossob Camp – Mata Mata Camp. The road to Mata Mata Camp goes right across the sand dunes to the western part of the park at the Namibian Border. The park provides several picnic spots where you can leave your vehicle and have a break. Those picnic sites and also the ablution facilities are in good conditions and all of were glad for the break after driving in the heat. About 5 km before the Mata Mata Camp we spotted three lions resting under a tree but quite in a distance. Just before sunset we did another game drive and saw some giraffes.

28. Feb 2009: Mata Mata Camp. At the morning game drive we met a lioness. She was walking on the road next to our vehicle. We followed her for a few hundreds meters until disappeared into the bushes.

02. Mar 2009: Augrabis Falls NP. The national park at the waterfalls is dominated by a rough, rocky landscape. It is very hot and dry and only a small number of animals might be seen during the day. We only saw a group of baboons and one klipspringer.

03. Mar 2009: Augrabis Falls NP – Springbok. The route through the Northern Cape is deserted. Grazing land all over and a farm from time to time. Lunch at Poffadder, where it is boiling hot. We continued to Springbok and looked for a campsite. The only one we found was in a poor shape therefore we stayed over on a guestfarm 25 km south of Springbok.

04. Mar 2009. Springbok – Lamberts Bay. The farmer on the guestfarm recommended to travel to the coast rather than to stay inland due to the hot weather that was expected. We head for Lamberts Bay. Unfortunately the campsite in Lamberts Bay does not have many trees that give shade. We then rented an apartment for one night, which was right on the beach. The beach is made of white smooth sand but the sea is freezing cold. Too cold to go for a swim.

05. Mar 2009: Lamberts Bay – Citrusdal. From the coast we went into the Cederberge to Citrusdal. A beautiful landscape with citrus farms and rooibos plantations.
We found a stunning private campsite on one of the farms right on the banks of a river. The water was clear and warm. We stayed for 3 nights on that campsite and beside one trip through the mountains to Clanwilliam we spent most of the time floating and playing in the river or relaxing under a huge oak tree.

08. Mar 2009: Citrusdal – Paternoster. We left the severe heat of the Cederberge and head again for the coast to Paternoster a lovely village with white tinted houses along the coastline. We camped in the adjacent Nature Reserve on the beach just below the Light House. Countless shells layed piled up on the beach and seals were resting on big boulders in the sea.

09. Mar 2009: Paternoster – Cape Town. In Cape Town we booked a cottage in Newlands, which also provided safe parking for our camping trailer. A few non-holiday related things had to be done in Cape Town therefore we did not have lots of time for sight seeing. But we visited the Waterfront, the Two Oceans Aquarium and the penguins in Simonstown (as one of our children is a big penguin fan!).
12. Mar 2009: Cape Town – De Hoop Nature Reserve. After the traffic and hectic of the city we enjoyed the tranquility and nature of De Hoop Nature Reserve. The reserve is famous for its Fynbos vegetation and the white sand dunes. After setting up the camp we drove through the reserve passing zebras, elands and bonteboks, to the coast. The bright white sand is blinding. In the rock pools we discovered many small fishes, anemones, star fishes among lush green sea lettuce.
13. Mar 2009:De Hoop Nature Reserve – Stillbay. We took the back roads via Malgas, where we crossed the Breede River with a manpowert ferrry, to Stillbay. We stayed with our friends Craig and Annette, who own the Anchorage Guesthouse and pitched the tent on a neighbouring field. We spent two wunderful days with them and their son Jonothon.

15 Mar 2009:Stillbay – Knysna. Our journey comes to an end. We headed back home to Knysna. We had a fantastic holiday and are looking forward to our next trip.