LOCAL TRAVEL
Then there was Nature’ s Valley, where the trip got a little more rugged.
Rather than simply admiring the beach, I took the Ranger onto one of the area’ s gravel roads. There is something about leaving perfectly maintained tar that makes a road trip feel like a proper adventure.
Nature’ s Valley has the kind of wild coastal beauty that makes you want to stop, switch everything off, and take it all in.
From there, I swapped open-air thrills for the indigenous forest at Tsitsikamma.
MONKEYLAND
WALKING TALL The next stop was Monkeyland, where the pace slowed but the entertainment factor remained high.
Walking among the free-roaming primates feels very different from seeing animals behind a barrier. You are in their environment, watching them move, interact, and get on with their day. It is also a good reminder that when you enter the animal kingdom, you are very much the visitor.
I SAW:
• Black-and-white ruffed lemur
• Ring-tailed lemur
• Bolivian squirrel monkey
• Brown capuchin
• Red-backed bearded sakiaki
• Black howler monkey
• Vervet monkey
• Geoffroy’ s spider monkey
• Hanuman langur
• White-handed gibbon from the road.
A canopy tour offers a completely different kind of adventure. Instead of staring down at a massive drop, you are surrounded by enormous trees, dense vegetation, and the sounds of the forest. Flying between platforms on a zipline gives you a view of the canopy that you simply cannot get
It is fast, fun, and, thankfully, requires considerably less bravery than the bridge.
No Garden Route adventure would be complete without spending some time on the forest floor too. I joined a fynbos and forest tour led by a qualified horticulturalist named Marius.
That, in many ways, sums up the first part of my Garden Route adventure.
It is more than postcard beaches; mountain passes, and forest-lined roads. It is the collection of experiences you pick up along the way: getting lost in a maze, taking on a zipline, staring down from Bloukrans, walking through a forest, walking among primates, tackling a gravel road, scanning the ocean for whales, and attempting to play golf in the rain.
So, Inbounders, if part one of my adventure taught me anything, it is this: on the Garden Route, the journey really is the destination. IB
16 INBOUND SA / SEPTEMBER 2026