South Africa · Garden Route High and Coast · part 1

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Outeniqua Pass

   The Outeniqua Pass is the quick way from the coast to the Karoo, and a motorcyclist's first lesson that South Africa's mountains come in a hurry. On the coast, George sits among green hills with the Indian Ocean on the horizon. Twenty minutes inland, the N12 climbs the face of the Outeniqua range in a series of well-engineered bends, crests at roughly eight hundred metres, and drops into the dry, rocky country of the Little Karoo toward Oudtshoorn. The pass was opened in the early 1950s, replacing the older Montagu Pass, which still exists as a gravel road a short distance away.

   Read the complete Outeniqua Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Outeniqua Pass is where the day begins. Next is Wilderness beach.

2. 2. Wilderness beach

   Wilderness beach is a wide, pale curve of sand that runs east from the mouth of the Touw River toward Sedgefield, backed by dunes, lakes and wooded hills, and on a calm morning it is among the loveliest places on the Garden Route. The Indian Ocean rolls in with long, slow breakers, and the horizon is clean and blue, with the dark green flank of the Outeniqua mountains behind. The beach stretches for many kilometres, so you can walk for as long as you like and meet nobody but a few dog walkers and the odd fisherman casting a line from the shore.

   Read the complete Wilderness beach write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Wilderness beach comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Knysna lagoon.

3. 3. Knysna lagoon

   Knysna sits on the edge of a lagoon, a broad, sheltered stretch of water that almost seems like a lake until you notice the tide running in and out through a narrow gap in the sandstone cliffs. These are the Knysna Heads, two great cliffs that guard the entrance, and the passage between them is one of the most dangerous harbour mouths in South Africa, with many ships lost over the years. A viewpoint on the eastern Head offers a spectacular look at the channel and the surf breaking on the rocks. The lagoon itself is a protected estuary, home to the rare Knysna seahorse, found nowhere else, and a variety of fish and birds.

   Read the complete Knysna lagoon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A break here. Next is Tsitsikamma forest.

4. 4. Tsitsikamma forest

   The Tsitsikamma coast is one of the few places in South Africa where the forest comes down to the sea. The name is thought to come from the Khoi for a place of much water, and the description fits, with rivers cutting deep gorges through the mountains and dropping into the Indian Ocean through rocky mouths. Between the sea and the Tsitsikamma mountains grows an old, damp forest of yellowwood, stinkwood and ironwood, draped in lichen and ferns, which forms part of the Garden Route National Park. Some of the trees here are hundreds of years old, and the biggest yellowwoods are said to be well over six hundred years.

   Read the complete Tsitsikamma forest write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tsitsikamma forest closes the day.