19 February, Knysna

Last Tuesday I picked up Tom from the airport in Cape Town. He was tired of the flight but luckily we didn’t need to go far for the hotel. The next day we drove the 480 km to Knysna of which Tom took part of it. Getting used to a stick shift car with so little power was not easy but he quickly got used to it.

Last week I had to do some work so we did little other then hanging around in the village, a lot of walking and, in Tom’s case, sports. Tamara also walks a lot and as a result she looses weight and she is very happy with it.

Sunday we drove to Addo National Park, about 320 km towards Port Elizabeth. We drove over the well-known Garden Route along the south coast of South Africa. This is a magnificent road that runs through huge forests with mountains of more than 1000 m high on one side and the sea on the other. Every 10 km there is a river that in a deep gorge that needed to be crossed by high bridges. The highest bungee jump can be made here, something like 211 m. Addo is the third largest park in South Africa with elephants, zebras, kudu’s and some hyena’s and lions. We didn’t see the last two but the hyena’s we heard during the night. This time we drove through the park because there was no place on the guided tours. It was astonishingly busy in the park. All the camping pitches were full and the same was true for the chalets.

The camping experience can be called traumatic for the children. Tom slept in the rooftop tent and Tamara had a small tent on the ground for herself. Especially Tom found the stay at a campsite horrible. Tamara was more relaxed. Lisa and I have spoiled them a lot too much!

Tomorrow we will, perhaps, go to Tzitzikamma, a tropical rainforest on the sea at about 70 km. Friday my in-laws come for a long weekend. We bring them back home Monday, after the hospital visit.