Day Three - Discovering Hermanus

An early meeting the next day at the Old Harbour to embark your kayak for a morning paddle on the sea; seals, whales, dolphins & penguin are regularly sighted on these trips so be sure to bring a waterproof camera along or buy a cheap one from Percy Tours (£7). The rest of the day is another opportunity to visit the wine farms of the Hemel-en –Aarde Valley. Sumaridge, Bouchard-Finlayson, Cape Bay, Newton Johnson & Hamilton Russell with lunch at Sumaridge. Close by in the village of Stanford you can visit the Birkenhead Brewery – named after HMS Birkenhead that sank off the coast here in 1852 killing all 450 soldiers on board while all women & children survived. This was the ship that pioneered the famous saying “women & children first”! Hermanus has much to offer in the form of paragliding, sandboarding, abseiling off Gearing’s Point, Rotary Way scenic drive, horse riding either in the mountains or along the beaches, scuba diving, gorge jumping, hang gliding, hiking, canyoning, cooking courses, hot springs, gambling at the Caledon Casino & Spa, museums, township tours, surfing, bird watching in a hide on the wetlands, boat cruises… clearly you are not likely to get bored!

Some 125 kilometres South East of Hermanus, is the Southern Tip of Africa, at Cape Agulhas. So if you’ve ever had the urge to stand at the tip of a continent then this is the place for you. The closest Southerly landmass is Antarctica – we don’t recommend that you try to swim it!
A drive along the Garden Route will bring us through towns such as Swellendam, Riversdale, Mossel Bay & George where we can offer you Bridge Swings & the Highest Bungee Jump in the world at 216 meters of sheer terror on the end of a rope. Skydiving & parachuting is also available for those with more sense that guts. It is in this region that we’ll be visiting the Big Five at one of the safari parks. We will be staying 2 – 3 nights in pure luxury, wilderness surroundings. Morning & afternoon game drives take in the wonders of Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Crocodile, Giraffe, Eland, Springbok, Hyena, Rhino, Hippo & Cape Buffalo as well as Zebra & a variety of buck. You may also be lucky enough to see the Lion cubs & Rhino calf. The Lion cubs can be handled but unless you’re brave enough to negotiate with a 3 ton female Rhino we would not advise you to try this with her calf!