Epic Adventure -- Day 27 -- 25/09/2012 -- Robberg Nature Reserve

So it seems we both needed some catch up sleep after the last few nights, which may explain why I slept for 12 hours and Dan slept for 16 hours. Wow did it feel good to get some rest. We managed to rouse ourselves at about 9:00 and decided we should probably do something with our day. As I had found out about it the day before, and it was number one on the trip advisor recommended list for this area, we chose to spend the day walking and hiking around Robberg nature reserve, a long peninsula jutting off the western side of Plettenberg Bay.

Since we had read that some of the trails are quite long and we may be walking for quite some time we stopped at Pick and Pay to get some supplies for a picnic lunch we would have along the way. We bought some break rolls, some cheese and some ham and Jenny sat in the back of the land rover and made some sandwiches before we left the car park. We then proceeded on to Robberg. The nature reserve is no doubt staffed and maintained by someone so they charge a small fee of R40 per person to enter, a bargain for what you get to experience once inside. You enter along a dirt road at the beginning of the peninsula and carry on up a brick paved road for 200 metres or so before coming to a small car park. From this car park you can embark on one of three different walking trails leading you through and around the peninsula. The shortest of which is only about 1.5km round trip, while the longest one is about 10km. We set off with the goal to do the longest route that takes you right to the point of the reserve.

Once we set out however we found this may be a very ambitious goal. The trails, if you could call them that, were often hard to distinguish from the bush growing around them and were often precariously perched on cliff faces with no railings or banisters preventing what seemed like inevitable falls. Nothing like these trails would be allowed to exist in the UK as health and safety would have a massive laugh before shutting them down. Here however you do things at your own risk and people do actually exercise something called common sense. The views from the cliff faces looking back on Plettenberg were fantastic and we often stopped on memorial benches along the way for frequent rests and drinks of water.

Once we reached the turn-around point for the shortest route we stopped and had a long-ish rest. This simple 800 meter trek along the cliff had taken more out of us than we expected. It was at this point that Jenny noticed a strange sound and we looked down to find maybe 100 seals gathered along the rocky shore below us! We continued on for quite some time until we arrived at the second turn around point. This second point is unusual because the rocky layout of the land gives way to a 50 meter wide stretch of sand running through the reserve. We walked along this stretch towards the Plett side of the reserve until we were confronted with the end of the sand and a 100 meter drop to the rocks and sea below. We decided this was as good a place as any to sit and have the lunch that we brought along. As we ate we noticed even more seals on the rocks below, so many so that the noise they made blended together and sounded like a busy pub setting rather than seals in the sea!

We finished our lunch and had a quick chat deciding if we would attempt the entire loop of the reserve or turn around at this point. We were both feeling a bit tired so decided to head back to the car via the other side of the peninsula. To get there we walked along the stretch of sand, away from the cliffs where we ate lunch and down a very steep sand embankment to a beach below. We found out later that the westerly winds and surf bring sediment onto the beach where it is carried by the wind through the sandy valley we walked along, eventually building the dunes/cliffs where we ate lunch before it is blown into the sea on the east side of the reserve. I stopped and collected some of the sand for my dad's sand collection (He's a geologist. That's my vain attempt to explain his strange behaviour ;D)

We walked around the large expanse of beach for a few minutes, taking some photos of the scenery and some shag that we spotted. (alas no paper bags) We then got asked by another hiker where the trail went from here. An easy answer we thought until we had a look ourselves. We knew which direction we needed to head, and we could see the trail about 50 meters above our elevation and 300 meters away but it didn't look as if we could get there from here. The answer, rather shockingly, is that the trail headed along the rocks and cliffs precariously close to the pounding surf. The trail was routinely as little as a foot wide and the rocks were wet, slippery and not always fixed.

Along this treacherous path we found the entrance to cave marked with a sign describing that 3000-4000 years ago this cave was inhabited by the Khoisan people. Jenny wanted to have a snoop about but the sign warned about destroying artifacts if you entered the cave, and so for once Jenny listened and we passed the cave without disturbance :D. We found our way back to the car and had a short look at the visitors centre boards before heading to Pick and Pay for more braai supplies.

When we got to the shops and turned the car off the radiator continued to run once the car was turned off, and when we opened the hood to see what was going on we found out that the car had devoured her way through 6.5L worth of coolant! After filling her up we rang Doug who found a service station near us called Kuerbooms service station (we always read that word as KABOOM, not exactly a reassuring name for a garage :D). We sat in Mugg and Bean and had a drink each whilst we waited for Snolly to cool back down, I had a frozen margarita to calm my nerves.

After driving around for over 30kms trying to find the garage, we were eventually pointed to the first road we were initially on, oops! we left the landy there to be looked at, and walked the 2kms back to our house at The Dunes, thankfully it was not far away. We went to the restaurant for dinner, I had another two frozen margaritas (only R30 a piece, and they were huge!!) and a chicken pizza, and Dan ate fish and calamari washed down with a few beers. Not a bad way to end a long and eventful day!