Planning your own trip to South Africa? Read more about my Garden Route itinerary here.
Today is the final day of my Garden Route road trip, and it starts off with a bang — I’m going on a morning kayak trip with Untouched Adventures in Tsitsikamma National Park. Immediately afterwards I’ll zip along to Port Elizabeth (two hours away) to return my rental car.
But right now I’m just focused on that first adventure — I am thrilled to encounter Tsitsikamma on kayak. After previewing this area at sunset last night, I can’t wait to get out on those aquamarine waves.
Endless cliffs in the distance:
Here’s an overview from the main parking lot at Tsitsikamma near the visitors’ center and restaurant. The office for Untouched Adventures is located on the lower level.
That’s the restaurant on the left side in the photo below, overlooking this gorgeous beach — good reason to stick around for a meal.
You guys, this beach…! I arrive around 8am and it’s practically empty. Wish I had an extra hour to lounge here.
But since there’s no time for a dip, I’ll do the next best thing and kayak on top of the water.
A quick note about the activities offered here — I’m doing the hour-long kayak tour (about $30 USD), but there is a 2.5 hour Kayak & Lilo tour (about $40 USD) that I WISH I had time to do. Both tours start out the same way (kayaking from this dock all the way to where the river appears to stop) but then I will have to turn around and come back. Those on the Kayak & Lilo tour will keep going and, after walking a short distance, continue further inland on a small inflatable raft down the river. There’s options to cliff jump and then they return back the way they came.
If I didn’t have to return my car by noon I’d happily stay longer and try out these Lilo floats:
(image via)
Regardless, I’m just excited to get onto the water. This is the launching area for boats and kayaks:
Once we’ve all donned wet suits (the ocean is cooler than it looks) we gather around for a brief paddle lesson.
And then we’re off:
The first stretch is the toughest; we paddle through ocean waves towards the mouth of the Storms River. Once we’re under the bridge, the water is more calm and it becomes easier to paddle.
Here’s the bridge I walked over last night while taking photos at sunset:
Once we turn inland, the route gets more impressive — towering cliff walls rise above us and greenery takes over the stone.
We poke our heads into a few sea caves, which reminds me of kayaking on the Channel Islands in California.
We reach an area where the river appears to stop. Turns out the river actually picks up just over these rocks, but the next stretch is fresh water instead of salt water connected to the ocean. This is where the Lilo part of the tour happens — those continuing on will leave their kayaks behind on these rocks and continue on foot, then navigate part of the fresh water river on an individual floating raft (aka the Lilo). After about an hour they will return to these kayaks and paddle back to shore.
But since my time is limited I have to turn my kayak around and head back now. So bummed to miss the Lilo adventure. The photos and on-line reviews are great, and if you go I’d love to hear how you like it.
Okay, now it’s just me and two of the guides headed back to shore.
We pass a tour boat on the way back — if you’re not a fan of kayaking but still want to check out this gorgeous inland stretch of river, then perhaps the boat tour is for you. They pop into the caves, too.
Almost back to the bridge:
And after pushing through a few big waves, we’re back near the shore.
One more view of this glamorous water:
Thumbs up for kayaking in Tsitsikamma. So glad I could squeeze this in before ending my Garden Route road trip.
After a quick shower to rinse off, I’m on the road to drop off my rental car in Port Elizabeth. More tomorrow!
Major thanks to Untouched Adventures for hosting my hour-long kayak trip, which is half of the Kayak & Lilo tour. Definitely do that full tour if you have time, it looks really neat and I wish I could’ve stayed longer. Opinions are my own.
