Hermanus & Wilderness

Hermanus is the whale capital of the Cape region. As the season unfortunately already ended, we didn’t get a chance to go looking for wales, but the town is still worth a visit. They have a beautiful cliff path where we went running and walking in the morning. And Dorin got to eat an excellent steak at Char’d, a dry aged T-bone which he will remember fondly for a long time 🙂

From Hermanus, it was an uneventful 4h drive to Wilderness. Wilderness we totally picked as a destination because of its name. The name fits: forests and steep hills, a lagoon perfect for kayaking & bird watching and a beautiful stretch of beach with rolling breakers. We booked a room at Kooboo Berry Ocean View, a self-catering guesthouse up on the hills, in a super modern building with the most amazing terrasse. Awesome views over the whole town, lagoon and the beach. Before settling on the terrasse with a glass of chilled wine, we drove to Oysters R Us for the chubbiest oysters we have ever seen. They offer a tasting menu, 6 oysters with different topics, from classic South African to Japanese and French. And this for less than CHF 20.

After a raining morning we did a short hike in Wilderness, but the real highlight was the next day with the kayak trip on the Touw River. It’s about 3km paddling up the river through indigenous forest and then a 2.5km walk on a boardwalk to a small waterfall, with return via the same route. So green and beautiful, and the kayaking was great fun.