On Thursday, we got up early and head to the airport to fly to George. Once we landed, we had a nice breakfast at a famous country club, and then drove The Garden Route, which is a popular stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa. We visited Monkeyland and Birds of Eden near Knysna. We had lunch in another vineyard at Bramon Wine Estates, and then checked into our third hotel of the trip. That night was free time, but the majority of our group gathered at a local restaurant and shared a great meal.

Day 8—The Garden Route

Cape Town International Airport

George Airport

Fancourt Country Club was designed by Gary Player  (a South African) and was home of the President’s Cup in 2003

Mike & Whitney

Along the Garden Route from George to Knysna, we passed by Dolphin Point on the Indian Ocean

Outside Knysna, we saw a sign for 3 of our adventures

Lunch in the vineyard

This is what happens when you have lunch at a winery… people spontaneously break out into a chorus line

Me, Duncan, Greg, Craig, Peter, Charles

Another shanty village

Our hotel for the next two nights was the Protea Knysna Quays, room 314. I’ll drink to that!

Our hotel was right on the waterfront, and our first sunset was beautiful

A group of us chose to eat at JJ’s on the waterfront, where I ate zebra, crocodile, ostrich, and springbok and Madeline ate Kudu. It was all fantastic. Below, Ty gives a toast to all the married couples, particularly our newlyweds. Note the bottles in the ceiling, because to the right, we added four of our own.

Atlas the gibbon

Ringtail lemur

Vervet monkeys

Vervet monkey

A saki monkey wants to buy a gift

Birds of Eden is the largest single free-flight aviary in the world, and incorporates an indigenous forest with waterfalls and elevated walkways. Previously caged birds live here freely

Monkeyland was established in 1998, and is the first ever free-roaming multi-species primate reserve

My favorite exotic bird is the scarlet ibis, which I fell in love with after reading the story in high school

Douglas the spotted dikkop followed us for a while

Two crowned cranes

African spoonbill

Our group continued to bond, as can be seen here when Whitney and Alice helped each other across the suspension bridge

A golden pheasant

Otis the Senegal parrot seemed to love Madeline, going along for a ride with her before she moved to the AbD sign that Jennae was holding

A pair of blue and gold macaws

A Knysna lourie

Another room with two small beds that don’t allow us to sleep together? Didn’t anyone tell AbD that we were celebrating  our 25th anniversary?

Madeline spotted the fruit bats in the top of the trees