Places of interest to visit on a Garden Route trip in South Africa, as reported by a homeschooling mom after an educational tour of this region of South Africa.
by Shirley Erwee
In June 2007, a fellow-homeschooling friend and I decided to take our children on an educational Garden Route trip, from Hermanus in the Western Cape to Boknesstrand, near Kenton-on-Sea in the Eastern Cape, where my parents live.
We planned to travel with all our 11 kids, aged 2 months to 17, in one Kombi and we made a Garden Tour Trip book in a flip file for each of the younger children, whom we homeschool.
You will find some of the printable pages I made here: Garden Route Trip
The first page in each book was an enlarged photocopy of the map of our Garden Route Trip route taken from an atlas, so that the children could mark it with a felt-tip marker and follow the stages of our journey. There were also notebooking pages for them to use to record their experiences, word searches and colouring pages for them all pertaining to the Garden Route trip.
We took a South African tour guide book along with us that explained the history of many of the towns we passed and how they got their names. Debby was very good at retelling the info in a way that made it gripping stories for our preschoolers (and the others) rather than simply the facts.Since Debby and I are also scrapbooking enthusiasts, we took lots of pictures along the way so that we can create memory pages or even a memory map/poster of our Garden Route trip.
Before I continue, I should first tell you that we did not accomplish all that we planned to see and do on this trip, as we discovered traveling/stopping with a large crowd takes longer than we anticipated.You have to be RELAXED and FLEXIBLE about your itinerary and not stressed by time! Nevertheless, we are hoping to repeat the Garden Route trip and visit different places of interest next time around.
From left to right – Back row: Naomi (5), Debby, Natalie(4), Aiden (12), Jeremy (15), Ashleigh (17) Riaan (2) Timothy (13) Shirley and baby Samantha (2 months) Jon-Jon (7) Lucy (9) Front: Kayleigh (5)
On a Sunday morning, we set out from Hermanus for Mossel Bay where we planned to spend our first night. First stop was for a photo at Stanford, which is just 15 minutes away from home. Next we had a tea-time break for a snack at Riviersonderend, and then more photo stops at Heidelberg and Riversdal.
Just before the Truckstop petrol station outside Mossel Bay, we had to stop unexpectedly to replace a tyre, which looked like it had exploded!
The vehicle came to a halt just at the start of the off-ramp to the petrol garage – which could not have been a better place. We believe that this was no co-incidence, but divine providence!
Tim and Jem changing the tyre
While the teenaged boys exercised their Lifeskills and changed the tyre, Ashleigh (17) and I took the smaller children onto the grassy field where there were swings and a jungle gym as well as a small enclosure of farm animals for them to look at.
Instead of having to wait on the side of the busy highway or in the car, they could get out, stretch their little legs and enjoy the ‘pitstop’.
Animals at Mossel Bay Truckstop
Well, our plan had been to visit the museum at Mossel Bay that afternoon, but we arrived as it was closing and so we had to postpone our visit until the next morning.
After supper we took a drive to see the Lighthouse at Cape St. Blaize as we had read the children a true story about a cat at the lighthouse.
To the children’s delight, we had booked accommodation in a train, the Santos Express, on the beachfront that has been converted into a Bed & Breakfast/Backpackers’ accommodation.
Santos Express, Mossel Bay
We all spent the night in the budget dormitory, where we slept on bunk-beds. After a fit of giggles that became very contagious, finally we all settled down for the night.
Next morning we visited the Bartholomeu Dias Museum complex, where we could board the life-size replica of Dias’s caravel and learn about the navigation instruments used in his day. We also visited the famous Post Office Tree and posted postcards home so that we could see the special postmark from the Post Office Tree.
The replica of Dias’s caravel at the Bartholomeu Dias Museum Complex
As a result of the changes to our Garden Route Trip schedule, we had to skip the planned visit to the Train Museum in George, where there is also a Xhosa village complex apparently and we skipped the planned visit to the Big Tree – a giant Yellow-wood tree in the Knysna forest. We had wanted to let the children measure its circumference with a roll of string.
We were hoping to reach Port Elizabeth for the 3 o’clock dolphin show. However, when we saw that we had run out of time yet again, we made stops to visit a relative at Cape St. Francis and a fabulous scrapbooking supply shop at Jeffrey’s Bay, which was a highlight for the moms! We arrived at Boknes late that evening.
At Boknes, weather-permitting, it is possible to walk (about 45 minutes across the beach) to the replica of Dias’s Cross at Kwaaihoek, which is the point at which he turned back for Portugal because of a mutinous, homesick crew. Unfortunately for us, the weather was bad most of the time we were there and so we didn’t do that this time.
Close up with Domino (left) and a penguin (right)
On our trip home, we went to the dolphin show at the PE Oceanarium and were able to view penguins and seals close up after the show. The children were thrilled at the skills and abilities of the two dolphins, a father and daughter pair named Domino and Denisa, respectively.
The dolphins performing
For this trip, the dolphin show was the final highlight and we came straight home afterwards. However, other activities and places of interest that we have visited before or hope to see on a future Garden Route trip are the following:
- The Knysna Elephant Park – here you can get right up close to the elephants and even feed them by hand if you buy a pail of food for them.
- There is also the Knysna Elephant Sanctuary, but their rates appear to be more expensive.
- The Big Tree
- The Outeniqua Choo-Choo – this is a narrow gauge railway trip that is operated between George and Knysna on certain days of the week. It is 3 hours each way, so you will need to plan it to fit in with your itinerary very carefully.
- Monkeyland
- Storms River Bridge and Van Staden’s Bridges
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