Adventures in the Baviaanskloof part 2!

After our amazing farmhouse breakfast Yanni asked us if we wanted to see some baby animals. Of course we said "yes!" and jumped into the back of his truck.

These baby ostrich were only a few days old. They were TINY!!! From the size of their eggs, I expected baby ostrich to be a lot bigger.

Then we saw a pair of lambs that were minutes old. This one still has the cord attached!

We said  good-bye to the cave people and ventured on down the road to the Speekhout Treehouse. Se had to drive home so we didn't get to stay in the treehouse but the owners let us check it out. We get to stay a night here in January.

Bathroom in the trees!

The main living area of the treehouse:

Some of the beds and an outdoor dining room. Seriously awesome place!

Then we headed home. We decided to drive through the bush on a long route through the wildest part of the Baviaanskloof. At one point we hit a sign that said Willomore was 101KM back the way we came: 2 hour drive. The next town moving forward was 99km: 4.5 hour drive. WHAT!?! Well my friends it took us 3 hours. Because we are outstanding. But let me tell you that was some ROUGH terrain. We drove along ruts and through rivers and if we had gotten a flat tire I think we would have had to eat a kid. There was tons of wildlife and we saw monkeys and baboons:

In September we drove back into the B-Kloof with my Mom and her friend Karetha:

And the G-Spot had puppies!

This guy. He killed a bok and made his own Whisky dispenser. I think Blue Ridge Distilling needs one of these STAT!

Then we drove into the back country once again:

We found this HUGE tortoise in the middle of the road!

And Mom and K loved the scenery!

That night we stayed at the Cedar Guesthouse out in the middle of NOWHERE. It's totally off the grid so we got to eat dinner by candlelight.

Beautiful scenery:

The next day was windy and COLD so the girls stayed back at the house but Teddy and I went on a long hike up a canyon. We saw some pretty cool stuff!

Meanwhile back at the ranch the girls were taking photos and mugging for the camera!

Swimming pool? Really? I've seen bathtubs bigger than this!

Then there was this guy: He followed us all around the property. Sat outside the door during meals and just generally adopted us. He was very proud and loved to strut his stuff and lead the way up the various pathways. I need a chicken...

After 2 very peaceful nights away from civilization we headed back home. But first we had to get past this crew!

The road from Willomore was paved (finally) but it was ONE LANE!!! I have never seen this before. You had to keep your eagle eyes open and pull the left side of the car onto the gravel if you saw another car heading your way. Kind of epic to say the least.

We stopped for lunch at a little picnic table by the side of the road. It seemed like a nice enough spot. Then Sasha read that tiny sign you can see on the other side of the road:

After we read that we all finished up lunch REALLLLY quick. In fact I think we set a new record for eating and re-packing a vehicle. Lesson learned: In Africa, read ALL surrounding signs before stopping to picnic!

Adventures in the Baviaanskloof: Part 1

 After our Garden Route adventure we headed up a crazy dirt road and stopped for lunch at Angie's G-Spot (it's hard for men to find). They were roasting a piglet when we got there. Guess that's what you gotta do when you keep putting off that monthly grocery store trip.

 We had a beautiful day to wait for our food and hang out with their extensive menagerie.

 I want TUNA!

The open kitchen at Angie's is pretty unique and has a great view of the river.

 Curry and rice. Pretty darn good presentation for the middle of the boondocks!

 We said good-bye to Ana, Mark and the Gang and headed into the Baviaanskloof (Baboon Canyon). The scenery was amazing!

 Awesome rock-formations...

 ...and old-school working farms.

 Our home that night was a super-cool place called the "Makkedat Grot" or Makkedat Caves. They have taken all these rock grottos and built over the front of them to make cozy and eclectic accommodation! I'm going to put on my Geology hat for a second and tell you that these "caves" are not caves at all, but Geologic anticlines - a place where strata have been bent like a downward fold. The center layers have fallen out of these folds making a cavity underneath. Pretty darn convenient for living in!

 Climbing to the second level:

 Kids room!

 Master bedroom:

 The downstairs was a big open space with a dining table, full working kitchen, and 2 more big sleeping platforms. Upstairs there are 3 double bedrooms.

 All in this house can sleep 10 comfortably in beds!

 Welcome sign heading up to the braai area.

 Coolest Whirligig thing EVER in the yard!

 We had an amazing farmhouse dinner cooked for us at the reception area (kudu pie!!) and I forgot to take pics! The next morning we drove up the road to check out some of the other caves. This one is smaller but has a second grotto way above where teens or other smelly people can sleep.

 Sleep chamber high up the cliff:

 We climbed up to check it out. You wouldn't want to be sleeping up here if you have a tiny bladder in the middle of the night unless you can pee off the side!

 More cool rock folds!

 After checking out some of the other caves we headed to breakfast but there were some obstacles on the road that did NOT want to let us pass!

 Our table was set for us. The temp was just perfect for eating outside on a very early spring morning.

 Fresh squeezed juice!

 Now THAT'S a farmhouse breakfast! All components were from the local farms. When you live an hour from the nearest paved road you all have to work together and the residents in the B-Kloof are a great example of community. Even the bread came from a farm down the road!

To be continued.....

Adventures Along the Garden Route.

 In trying to be good tour-guides to our USA peeps, we had to take both groups for a trip down the Garden Route. Again, 2 great weekends and both so different! With the Boudreau family we stayed at a country estate called Bella Manga. We had 2 self-catering cabins out away from it all (but close to the cows) and it was very rustic and rural. Waiting for dinner:

Our Hosts, Ray and Fiona welcomed us into their home on our first night and cooked us an amazing dinner in their huge eat-in kitchen!

Who's hungry?

 YUM!!

 We had an amazing lamb shank with mashed potatoes and squash and the best malva pudding ever.
This is a very well-fed and happy crew:

 The farm had several ponds and the kids had a blast just exploring, fishing, and hanging out.

 Even the adults got into the action as we found all these cool reeds and decided to see how well we could weave them into mats and baskets. The verdict: no indigenous people are going to be soliciting orders from ANY of us in the near future...

We even got to go for a morning run on both days we were there and the cows only chased us a little....

On Saturday some of us headed into Plettenberg Bay for Lunch.

We had a gorgeous winter day (? like no winter I've ever seen!) and found a restaurant right on the beach. The kids of course ordered and then had to head toward the water to explore.

This was our table. Any closer and we would have been in the ocean!

That night we decided to fire up the braai AND the bonfire.

We cooked all kinds of wors and ostrich kabobs and veggies. 

And of course we had to "braai" s'mores as well...

 2 weeks later we headed back down the Garden Route with the Passmore Family. It was much colder but we still had an awesome trip. We stopped for dinner our first night at an Italian restaurant that was right on the beach. Jeff was in heaven because the food was so good and the kids loved these massive chairs that they had outside on their deck:

 We stayed at beautiful place called "Fairview" just 5 mins down the road from Bella Manga and we rented the main house.

And guess who got to come on this trip?

The first morning they did breakfast for us and it was amazing. Served right in this beautiful old dining room with the works: country breads and jams, eggs, bacon, yogerts, muesli, you name it. What a great way to start the day.

 Another shot of the house.

 We went to Teniqua Wildlife Awareness center where they have all of these different cats and with most of them you can go right into the enclosures with them. Heart-pounding stuff!

 Leopard: I had to take this one thru the fence. We were NOT allowed in with this guy!

 2 amazing Cheetah: We stood about 3 feet away from them with no fences and just got to watch them and learn about these amazing animals!

 Serval. I want one!

 Later that afternoon we went to the Plett Puzzle Park. They had a life-size maze that was shockingly challenging! It takes about 35-40 minutes to navigate!

 They start you with a blue wooden block and you have to get to the blue corner tower. When you get there you put it into a box and out pops a green block so then you have to find your way to the green tower. Then the yellow, then the red. It was like a survivor challenge. The girls are trying to get to the red tower:

 When you get to the last tower and put in your block you get a round rainbow disc and then you have to find your way OUT of the maze and give it to the guy. We did it!

 That night we went to a really cool restaurant called "Emily Moon" that was right on the river. It was 8+ only with no kids menu. These 3 were amazing little diners in a fancy, schmancy place and one of the owners even gave the 3 of them complementary ice cream at the end of it for being so well behaved!

The next day we had to start heading back to PE but the fun was not over yet. Sherri and Ryan bungee jumped off of the Bloukrans Bridge and then we all went Zip lining. Now that's a dangerous looking group:

Hope this tower can hold all of us!

 After that we stopped for lunch at a little famhouse style restaurant with a roaring fire. They let Roxy come right into their place! The food was so yum and so cheap! These are the places I will really miss when we leave Africa!