Paradise at Africa's southern tip

 Greetings fellow travellers of our beautiful planet as well as all seekers of hidden gems of all sorts. My explorations of the fabled dark continent have revealed swathes of light. Despite limited internet - and thus less blog posting than previously - my outdoor adventuring continues. I recently discovered a further stretch of this southernmost shoreline of Africa and took one my most stimulating hinges on recent years, which I wish to share with you here today via the Travelfeed app from my mobile phone. 

This recent hike was the longest and toughest of the year but also the most exhilarating because it led me along the road less travelled. Hardly anyone has done this hike for some time by the look of the overgrown trail.

The day hike took me about 6 hours, there and back on foot. It began on the edge of the Harkerville Forest. Also known as the Knysna forest. It was an easy stroll for about 3 or 4km along the forest border, about halfway between the towns of Knysna and Plett. 

I have been exploring and hiking along this Garden Route section of the coast for some years so know the terra and conditions well. And this particular stretch was an unexplored and thus alluring gem of a site. 

I began by looking at Google maps to survey the terrain and paths available. This made it easy to know my direction ove I arrived within site of the shoreline. After a few hours strolling along the border of the forest, the trail emerges at into the open with the view of the cliffs and shore line in the distance. Here the indigenous Fynbos forest turns into pine plantation which runs for a few kilometres down the hill to the cliffs. 

The locals who live in this pristine natural environment are largely fans of the outdoors as you can imagine, so there are plenty of adventure sports available, including mountain biking. The pine plantation is filled with biking trails of varying difficulty and I followed their routes down the hill toward the cliff edge. I was drawn by the allure of deserted and seldom seem shorelines.

If you enjoy outdoor adventuring and extreme sports then this South African coastal stretch is the place for you. As you know South Africa breeds seriously rugged outdoor personalities, and as an aside you may have just seen the South African rugby team just win the works cup two days ago. The team made history by not only becoming the first team to win 4 world tournaments but also becoming the first ever team to win two consecutive tournaments on a row. In other words the climate and outdoor conditions here breed some of the healthiest and toughest folks on the planet. 

Walking down the hill toward the cliffs was easy along the biking trails. The challenging part was climbing down the steep rocky cliff to the beach below. I first had to find the actual path. It looked like no one had used the trail for months since it was now the end of a very wet winter this year. So I had to find the old trail down the cliff thro dense bush. Fortunately I'm familiar with the general conditions so was quite at home. 

Eventually I found a thick rope which was obviously the path down which I had to slide in order the access the shore. This made it easier despite having to bash through lots of overgrown bush to open the unused path once more. 

Once down the rope it was easy to make it onto the rocky beach. Getting back up was the hard part. It was tiring but rewarding following the trail back up with a sense of achievement.  

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