TRAVEL FEATURE - SOUTH AFRICA
CHRIS VENTER
IF YOU NEVER GET LOST
Without any doubt , the garden route is one of the top three tourist highlights of South Africa . There is the Kruger National Park and the spectacularly beautiful mother city , Cape Town , but the Garden route is just special .
Crossing the stretch of rugged coastline , you will encounter everything from long white sandy beaches , often deserted , to lush untamed indigenous forest that come charging down mountainsides .
There are thousands of excellent restaurants , amazing sea life and most importantly , everyone living along this area , lives like they are on a permanent holiday . It ’ s diverse , the climate is temperate , the area is heavily wooded , and it just makes me smile even thinking about it . I was excited to travel it on two wheels with my mate Big Mike piloting and providing an audio description to his blind pillion .
You may expect such a tourism highlight to always be busy , but the area is spread over a long passage with many small villages and towns . It never really seems overcrowded . This said , it ’ s always better to spend some time on the road less travelled . This is where I have often found the best experiences of my life . Besides , you never have to wait longer than a minute at the bar when ordering another round . Crowds are for people on buses . The less beaten track normally lures those on two wheels .
After a good day of rest with old friends in Gqeberha , it was time to saddle up and ride . Our route all the way home to Cape Town lay ahead . We would be travelling along one of my favourite stretches of South Africa and once more , we would be travelling by scooter . Well , that is , if you can really call the Sym 300 , a scooter . It ’ s certainly not a bike , but it feels far from what I know to be a little scooter . Maybe it ’ s a ‘ bikooter ’?
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