We have been to Tsitsikamma 3 times now, and it keeps amazing me how stunningly beautiful this place is. Tsitsikamma is part of the Garden Route National Park and is a coastal and marine conservation area. The ocean is wild, beating onto the rocks and creating huge fountains and a spectacle to watch any time of the day. The forest is ancient and is bathing the hills in a variety of greens. There are plenty of hiking trails, both short and (very) long. The Otter Trails passes trough here, which is known to be one of the most beautiful hikes in the world, and if you want to hike it you need to book it years in advance.
We stayed in this mesmerizing place for 4 nights. We would have loved to stay longer, but accommodation in cabins is quite pricey and the park is a busy hot spot in summer, so you need to book well in advance if you would like to have multiple nights in the same cabin.
Tsitsikamma cabin
We were very excited to be here again, just being here makes me feel happy as a child. And I come alive with activity when thinking of hiking here and being emerged in the beauty of this place. We took the kids on 2 hikes. We would have loved to do a third, but the reality is that Emily is only 2 years old and she needs a break every now and then (and to be honest, I injured myself and my body was relieved I was taking the break with her). The first day we hiked to the river mouth, which is not that far but contains lots of stairs, going up and down, up and down, which makes the hike quite intensive. The suspension bridge crossing the river mouth was closed for maintenance, which meant we were not able to go to the pebble beach. I was a little disappointed because I had been looking forward to building pebble towers with the kids – but that did not spoil the fun of being there. Instead we took the 2 shorter bridges along the cliffs, and to my surprise the kids found this very scary already, so maybe crossing the suspension bridge would not have been a success anyway!
The Waterfall trail
The second day we hiked the Waterfall trail, if you ask me the most scenic trail. It is the first part of the famous Otter trail. It follows the coast to a waterfall falling down from the cliffs. The first half is a real trail, the second half is leading over boulders and the cliffs and requires some climbing and balancing skills. We walked the first half as a family and I took Lucas from there to explore the boulders, but once we came to the cliffs it became to challenging for a 4 year old, so we turned back. In the mean time Emily had made a dam in a small stream that was coming down into the ocean. She had enjoyed herself very much!
The third day Emily needed a rest, so I stayed behind to play with her and to go explore the coastline near our house, playing with shells, sticks and stones. Lucas had fallen in love with climbing the boulders, and it was funny to experience him begging and begging and begging some more till Taco took him on the Waterfall hike again – even though Taco would have preferred to go spot Loeries on the Loerie trail. Loeries are a shy but beautiful relatively big bird (think dove size) that lives in the coastal forest.
The weather was beautiful throughout our stay. The evenings and nights were cool (long sleeves) and the days were bright, sunny and warm. The second day we experienced a tropical rainstorm in the morning, but after a few hours it disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place and the rest of the day was warm and sunny. The sunsets appears to be always stunning in Tsitsikamma, and every evening when the sun went down we ran outside, Lucas in tow to make sure we would not miss it – always with a camera in hand.
Dassie!
The kids loved the wildlife, the baboons in the morning, the dassies that were scouting the restaurant area (one almost bit Emily in the nose because she came too close – they look so cute she almost wants to kiss them) and the antelopes and birds that wandered through the park. I think if we would have done nothing, they would still have had a great time, just with spotting and following the wildlife. Oh, and I have to share, in addition to the baboon story Lucas wrote: That specific morning I woke up before the others and I opened the door onto the balcony so I could hear the waves a little better while I was writing in my journal. I sat down quietly, writing my intention for the day and all of the sudden a head appears in the corner of the curtain… I looked up and was surprised to stare into the face of a huge grown male baboon. Luckily the baboon didn’t like me being there and disappeared again, leaving me in shock. It took me a minute to get myself back together again. I woke up Taco and told him we had a baboon in the bedroom just now and that I was going to fetch the camera to see if it was still around. The fuss woke up the kids and they were very excited to see baboons up close and personal for the first time! How about that for a start of your day?!
Petra