Off to Cango Wildlife Ranch where they have a conservation programme to breed the nearly extinct white lions and tigers. We saw a crocodile being fed, pygmy hippos, cheetahs and leopards.
Then we dropped down to the Garden Route to make our way to Plettenberg Bay. Scenery now changed back to the more lush vegetation we’d seen near Cape Town and the vast sandy beaches of Wilderness. Strolled along, avoiding beached jellyfish, paddling in the crashing waves, admiring the surfers and watching quite a few dogs, including the cutest boxer puppy, frolicking in the water.
Continued onto ‘Plett’ as it’s known locally and arrived at ‘Whale of a View’ B & B. A very 50’s name for our fascinatingly eclectically furnished accommodation. Zelda the owner loves going to boot sales and dumps to pick up old furniture and bric a brac which she uses imaginatively both for practical purposes (an old cabinet housed our fridge and the breakfast cutlery and crockery was all ‘old’) and for decoration – her theme at the moment being shoes, handbags and gloves. In fact she wasn’t here when we arrived because she was away in Cape Town on an acquisitive trip. She came back with the van jam packed full and pleased that she’d got a treasure haul to keep herself occupied in the quiet season in about a month’s time.
The bay window in our room gives an awesome view of the whole of Plettenberg Bay, but no whales at this time of year. A relax and freshen up by the pool and then to Fu-shi for dinner – delicious Asian soups, salmon and tuna sushi and some vegetable tempura on a terrace with a view of the bay.