December 13, 2013
Traveling the southern coast of South Africa for Christmas.
Christmas holidays in the southern hemisphere are what happens when you take elements from the northern hemisphere's typical summer holidays (camping, beaches, sun) and combine it with a traditional Christmas vacation (family, good food, lazy days). Given that South Africans are basically doing two holidays at once, they take their time. Literally. Most offices close formally for over three weeks, with many people taking over a month off. And so, from sometime in late November until at least the middle of January, "silly season" is in full force. Work? What work?
December 13th marked the start of the Christmas holidays for us, and we embraced it in true-Joburger fashion- we left the city that same day and headed for the coast…
While most South Africans have one specific spot on the coast that they head to (a family home, a cottage, or just a vacation rental they visit year after year), we decided to make the coast itself our destination. We did venture inland here and there to see what there was to see (much to M's chagrin), but the coast was our main focal point.
Our itinerary included: relaxing on both Indian and Atlantic ocean beaches; taking in stunning views along cliffside roads and through historic mountain passes; spotting wildlife and getting up close with elephants, cheetahs, meerkats and penguins; tasting wine on many self-guided wine tours; and hiking through nature reserves and along ocean-side trails. When all was said and done, we covered over 5000km overland in 23 days. I think that meets the true definition of a road trip, no?
December 13th marked the start of the Christmas holidays for us, and we embraced it in true-Joburger fashion- we left the city that same day and headed for the coast…
While most South Africans have one specific spot on the coast that they head to (a family home, a cottage, or just a vacation rental they visit year after year), we decided to make the coast itself our destination. We did venture inland here and there to see what there was to see (much to M's chagrin), but the coast was our main focal point.
Our itinerary included: relaxing on both Indian and Atlantic ocean beaches; taking in stunning views along cliffside roads and through historic mountain passes; spotting wildlife and getting up close with elephants, cheetahs, meerkats and penguins; tasting wine on many self-guided wine tours; and hiking through nature reserves and along ocean-side trails. When all was said and done, we covered over 5000km overland in 23 days. I think that meets the true definition of a road trip, no?
While my picture-per-day ratio was not as high as on our Namibia trip (something to do with all the beach time, likely), I still managed to take over 3000 pictures in 23 days. Naturally, some sorting will be required in order to share the details of our adventure without boring everyone to tears, so in the meantime here are a few snapshots of the highlights...
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