Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Garden Route Tsitsikamma NP

Preparing scrambled eggs for 18.
The path along the coast to a waterfall.





Joan, Ken and Valaria.

This picture does not do justice to the size of the 'Big Tree'.
The bridge over the Storm River Gorge off of which the bungee.
Yet again...

Tuesday, December 12th.
Woke up at 6 to a beautiful clear blue sunny morning. After breakfast I went for a hike with Valeria to a waterfall. The hike said about 4 kms and three hours, which we thought was a little long, but that was because the majority of it was scrambling over rocks. The views of the ocean, the crashing surf and the forest were stunning. When we got to the waterfalls Valeria somehow managed to drop her phone in the water pool at the base of the falls. She said it was a magic trick. Luckily she was able to get into the water and fish it out, but as it was on when she dropped it, it is probably fried. We met Joan and Ken there.

We walked back the same route to the camp, had a quick drink and then we walked towards the shop at camp. She wanted to buy rice to see if she could salvage the phone. I left her on the road as I was going to do the Loriewandalpad Trail and she was going to continue on to the suspension bridge that I did yesterday. The Lorie Trail was short but a very nice hike through the forest and up to an viewpoint.

When I finished that I walked back to camp and waited while everyone got organized and we drove to the town of Tsitsikamma because a number of the group had signed up for zip-lining. I took advantage of the ride to go to town and have a look around there. I had heard of a walk through the forest to see 'The Big Tree' so I asked for directions and set off. It was only a couple of kilometres along a country dirt road before I got to the park and had to pay 38 rand ($4) to walk to the tree. The Big Tree is an eight hundred- year-old Yellowwood. This majestic tree towers over the rest of the canopy; standing 36+m tall and with a trunk circumference of 9m – this is a giant among giants. There were two of them and they were surrounded by a newer forest. It made me think of what the country looked like before they cut down all the old growth forests. When I got back to town I joined Megh at the local micro brewery where I had a sampler plate of four very nice beers.

When the zip-liners got back we drove to the bridge where they do the bungee jump just to watch as none of us had signed up for that. This is the highest bungee jump from a bridge in the world. Then we drove back to camp, organized and drove down to the camp restaurant for dinner. Jay had said that it often rains here, which makes cooking outside very difficult, so he had booked us in the restaurant, but ironically or luckily, we have had spectacular weather.

We had a good dinner of burgers and steaks and a couple of drinks. Then some of us walked back. It was a lovely evening and a great walk. At camp I went to the toilets to get ready for bed and wound up talking to a couple who were camped in front the facilities. They are 'honorary rangers' for the park. I was interested in what that meant and what their role was and I also wanted to know if the whole tent set up was theirs or the park's. It was huge (check the photo on tomorrow's blog) and it was fully equipped with kitchen gadgets and just about everything a house has, including a big screen TV. She told me that it was all theirs and that they are professional campers. They are retired and spend most of their time at four or five national parks during the year and have signed up for the ranger gig which requires them to be the extra eyes of the real rangers who cannot be everywhere. They help sort out problems at the camp or between campers, and also act as nature protectors who report anyone who is fishing illegally or doing anything that they should not be doing. Nice couple and they are obviously very happy in their role. Then off to bed.

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