After our final game drive and breakfast at Kariega, we hit the road again – this time, to Plettenberg Bay. On our way there, we stopped at Birds of Eden, which is the largest free-flight aviary in the world. Hundreds of birds fly and walk freely throughout the indoor aviary. While it was interesting to see so many exotic and striking birds, I wasn’t really thrilled about them being able to fly wherever they want, especially after seeing one land on another tourist. But, I summoned my courage and we made it through and even got some up-close photographs of beautiful birds.
All I can say is that I am glad we decided to skip Monkey Land, which is the same idea, but with free-ranging monkeys. No thanks. We did, however, get to see some real live baboons on the side of the road. There was a group of them just sitting there. Throughout our driving through South Africa, we saw lots of signs warning drivers not to feed the baboons and to yield to baboons. It was a bit strange to see them just sitting there on the side of the road. Fortunately, we didn’t hit any!
After that quick detour, we arrived at the B&B in Plettenberg. Nicknamed “Plett”, Plettenberg Bay is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The town reminded us a lot of beach towns in the Outerbanks of North Carolina. The beaches were also pretty similar – lots of soft, white sand. The only difference is that it is the Indian Ocean instead of the Atlantic!
Unfortunately, the weather was still a bit chilly, so we didn’t get the beach day we had hoped for. We did, however, enjoy a really fun dinner outside at the Lookout Deck. This bar and restaurant is located right on the beach, so we got to enjoy fish and chips while listening to the waves crashing. It reminded me a lot of our times at Myrtle Beach and Charleston. The next day, we woke up to an unwelcomed visitor: a large spider (about the size of a dinner plate, not exaggerating) was casually hanging out on our ceiling, right above the bed. We have never seen a spider that huge! Fortunately, the manager of the B&B was able to “remove” it for us. We didn’t ask for the details. We were just glad that he was gone. After a quick jog around the neighborhood, we enjoyed some of the best scrambled eggs and omelette of our lives! I don’t know what the cook put in them, but they were delicious. We had a lot of eggs on this trip, and these ones were easily the best. After breakfast, we headed over to the nearby town of Knysna to see “the Heads.” “The Heads” are large cliffs that separate the ocean from the lagoon in Knysna. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is truly breathtaking.
After getting some good shots of the cliffs, we headed into the town of Knysna. There is a quaint little waterfront there, with plenty of shops and restaurants. We did some souvenir shopping and then grabbed lunch at a café. Our wraps at lunch were delicious and Matt enjoyed a coffee milkshake (it wouldn’t be his last of the trip). They seem to really love their milkshakes in South Africa. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, and then enjoyed dinner at a pizza and pasta restaurant on the main street of Plettenberg. While the weather didn’t exactly cooperate, we still managed to have a really nice time in Plett.
After two days in Plettenberg, we drove on to Oudtshoorn. Oudtshoorn is often referred to as “the ostrich capital of the world,” as it is home to the world’s largest ostrich population, mostly due to the prevalence of specialized ostrich breeding farms. While we were in Oudtshoorn, we visited one of the most famous, the Highgate Ostrich Show Farm. A tour guide showed us around the farm and explained the breeding process. We learned lots of interesting facts and Matt got to hold a baby ostrich and feed grown ostriches (I politely passed). Later in the tour, there was also an opportunity to both sit on an ostrich and ride an ostrich. Matt sat on the ostrich, but wasn’t brave enough (or crazy enough?) to ride one. We did have a group of young German girls in our tour group, and they all took turns riding an ostrich. Two of the male farm workers had to literally hold them on the ostrich as it ran around. It was hilarious. Additionally, we got to watch a couple of the guys ride on and race ostriches. That was pretty funny, as well. All in all, it was a very interesting experience.
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