South Africa Sojourn Go east! to Wilderness

The route from Cape Town to Wilderness involves following the N2 for 450 km. Without stopping it is a four and a half to five hours drive. It is not a motorway, indeed not much of it is dual carriageway but it is well laned with two up and one down on undulations and there is a hard shoulder most of the time into which slower vehicles will move to assist overtaking. Most drivers are very polite using a double flasher thank you which is responded to with a headlight flash. Maximum speed is 120kms per hour but this is frequently dropped to 100 or 80 kph. at junctions or by-passes of towns. It is an enjoyable and fairly relaxing drive
We fuelled up and coffeed just outside Cape Town then didn't stop again until the only robots (traffic lights) on the entire route at Somerset West. What is a nuisance for drivers becomes an opportunity for these enterprising young men.

One of the roadside vendors with his portable shop. They were friendly and polite but not pushy.
Other drivers were not so lucky with either the fuel fairy or their mechanicals.

                                   I'm afraid we didn't stop to offer help.

As we drove east we had a continuous series of mountain ranges to our left (north) with the land falling away south towards the Indian Ocean although this was rarely in view.

                                              A wee bit hazy I'm afraid

                        Typical of South African roads, long and straight
The journey continued without incident until just after Swellendam, about three hours in, when we witnessed what was a horrific crash. The car two ahead of us veered to the left and struck the start of the the crash barrier which launched it into the air, at the same time twisting the vehicle so that it first landed on its roof. It bounced up again twisted another 180 degrees eventually landing on its wheels again. The car immediately in front of us stopped about 200ms past the crash and remained there with its flashers on. Meanwhile we stopped about 100ms beyond,  so I reversed back with flashers on anticipating having to deal with some serious injuries. As we got out to approach the battered car two young girls emerged, one after the other apparently unhurt. Within seconds of us talking to the girls a police car stopped behind us and three police officers got out. Within less than a minute a car on the opposite side of the road stopped and the passengers crossed over to join us. These transpired to be one of the girls parents. How on earth everybody arrived almost immediately completely beats me. When Helen asked one of the girls what happened she said that she didn't know because she was asleep. I suspect that they both were. There seemed no point in us hanging about as the police didn't seem to want statements, so we went on our way. Within five minutes we had seen three police cars and two ambulances speeding towards us blue lighting their way to the accident.
Just a little shaken, we decided to stop for lunch at a roadside cafe called the Blue Crane which was really nice. Now we are approaching the coast and get our first view of Mossel Bay.

As well as being the start of the Garden Route,  Mossel Bay is important as natural gas was discovered in 1969 and it is now home to a large gas to liquid refinery run by PetroSA.

We are now just a short ride from our accommodation in Wilderness and we arrive at ten past five to be greeted by our host Karen. She lives in a beautiful house which sits on the crown of the valley of the River Touw. Her land stretches down the steep hill to the river below. The garden is her pride and joy. She, and her late husband cleared the land of any alien plants thus allowing a huge variety of indigenous plants to flourish again.  Not only is the garden a paradise but it is also a sanctuary for the local fauna, especially the bird life, but more of that later. Have a look at our garden suite.

                                                            Inside and out

I'm afraid that these photos don't do any justice to the house or the surroundings. You can however get a good view of the swimming pool that I used every day. Just one more look at the view from the terrace.