August 8th - Day 5

As I said yesterday we decided to take the coast route to Port Elizabeth rather than the inland road over the Baviaanskloof, an area of wilderness, with mainly unmaintained gravel roads. Our route took us along the old coast road through lovely pine forests. The road alternated between narrow twisting sections and long straights where 120kph was the norm.

View of the 'highest road bridge in Africa' on the main Cape Town to Port Elizabeth highway

Before lunch we stopped by the sea at the Tsitsikamma National Park. The park embraces a wonderful coastline of mountains and rocky shores with fantastic surf.

Rocky shore at Tsitsikamma National Park, 100 miles west of Port Elizabeth

We met up with kenny & DeeAnne Croucher. Kenny rented scuba gear and went diving.

Kenny doing his interpretation of 'The Graduate'

Lunch followed as a picnic by the ocean, with the waves pounding on the rocks close by, sending up great clouds of spray into the air.


The drive to Port Elizabeth took about two hours along a great, virtually deserted, highway. This will be our last view of the sea as we head inland towards Lesotho and then the Zulu battlefields in KwaZulu Natal, before we return to the Atlantic in Namibia, some two weeks away.