Sea to Safari

Seven nights from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, self-guided with a support vehicle behind, riding the Cape and the Garden Route.

Chapman’s Peak Drive comes first out of Cape Town, cut into the cliff above the Atlantic with the sea a long way below it, then the Cederberg, a wilderness of eroded sandstone with rock art in it that is several thousand years old, and the Tankwa Karoo beyond it, which is dry, empty and about as far from the coast as the route gets.

Hermanus follows on the coast, which is rated the best land-based whale watching anywhere: southern right whales come into the bay to calve between June and November and can be watched from the cliff path without a boat. Betty’s Bay nearby has a penguin colony on the rocks. The Garden Route runs east from there over the Montagu Pass, then Addo Elephant National Park at the end of it, where the big five are all present along with giraffe and ostrich.

Bike hire is included, on a KTM 790 Adventure with a BMW R1250 GS available as an upgrade, and a discount applies for anyone bringing their own. A support vehicle carries the luggage. Eight days covers a great deal of the Western Cape, and an optional three-day unsupported extension back to Cape Town is offered for anyone wanting to make a loop of it. No wildlife sighting can be promised, and the whale season is what fixes the dates. Addo is malaria free, which is worth knowing when comparing it with safari options further north.