Tsitsikamma National Park

Sun, Oct 17  South Africa

Great scenery driving to the park.

We were on a toll road and again everything along the road and medians was blooming.  There were a lot of scrub bush and bushy plants, but it was still really pretty.  Oh, they also have a tree-like plant called stinkwood and it does stink!  I don't know what it looked like, but you knew you were near it!

How's that for a Park Name!

The park was beautiful!!! Entering we immediately saw three Sharpe's Grysboks grazing along the road.  We saw only one of those while in Kruger National Park.

Sharpe's Grysboks

This Hadeda Ibis was ground feeding among the Grysboks

After just a little ways the flat became a windy road thru rock walls and trees on steep grades up and down.

We also saw a few smaller-like songbirds, but none were as pretty as what we saw in the Eastern area.  When we got through the windy roads we were on the coastal edge of the Indian Ocean, it was breath-taking.  It wasn't a sandy beach like at our condo, but rather a rocky coast and beach.

There were several of these rental cabins along the coast and throughout the park.

This portion of the coast is so rocky and scenic.

We hiked for what seemed like 15 miles uphill, well maybe closer to 14 miles, well actually, I'm not sure on distance, but I am sure it was uphill and it seemed to be uphill both dirctions!  It was like walking through a tropical rainforest at times with moss, ferns, and tons of calle lillies just growing wild.  They were beautiful.

So green and lush, calle lillies growing on the side of the hill.

Again, Calle Lillies were so pretty!

We meandered our way through the pathway to see two suspended bridges.  One crossed over the canyon and the other over the river that feeds into the bay.

Yes, we hiked from the beach area to the top then descended back down to the bridges,
only to go back up to the top so we could get back down to the beaches... whew!

Proof we were there!

This is the view from the suspended bridge looking back up through the canyon and river that feeds into the bay.

They had a lookout tower and if you wanted to hike umpteen hundred miles straight up and unreal steep hill you could view out across the ocean -- we both decided our view from the bridge was beautiful enough!  South Africa truly is amazingly beautiful!  I would recommend anyone come tour.

This little guy is a Rock Dassie and you see them throughout the park.  The first one I saw was basking in the sun on the rocky coast.  We also saw several of them while hiking.

He blends with the rocks.

We ended up eating dinner at a restaurant in the park.  They had Kudu Steak on the menu - so Kudu it was!   There was no fancy presentation, it was basically steak, but tasted great! ... now, I can say I've eaten Kudu.

We were really tired that eve and Dennis is tired of night-time driving through the mountains.  It seems so many of our day trips we always end up driving home at night.  I'm struggling a little bit with allergies as everything is blooming.  It is so pretty here, all the flowers, trees, and especially the azaleas and wild bougainvillea are just UNREAL.  I'll post more  flower pics later.

Azaleas

Bougainvillea