In this week's blog I will share about a very nice outing we had with ouma Elna during February. Nature in many forms (such as ocean, mountains and forest) are both very close to us and we made a day outing of exploring the variety. Thursday February 26th we left at 7am for George,
our first stop on a one-day tour of Victoria Bay, Wilderness and the Knysna
forest with my gran. We popped in at Vic Bay just so my gran could see what it
looks like; she thought it very cute and cosy, and adored the houses right next
to the beach. We had a nice and short stroll along the paved walkway.
Smile!
The pier.
Vic Bay.
Next we drove to Wilderness, which is very different from
Vic Bay with it’s loooong white and sandy beach.... After a delightful walk
along the coast (skipping stones on the water, getting wet and dissecting Cnidarians,
Gastropods and Bivalves (jellyfish, ‘sea snails’, and mussels and such...sounds
impressive though doesn’t it)), mom, dad,
gran and Theuns drank tea at the fancy beach restaurant and Maarten and me went
for a swim.
Wilderness beach.
Onwards we drove to Knysna, where we had KFC for lunch, and
then departed for Gouna, located in the beautiful indigenous Knysna forest.
In the Knysna forest, we hiked a part of the Terblans Nature Walk on Kom se Pad,
an area made famous by Dalene Matthee in her Forest Book ‘The Mulberry Forest’
(1987) in which Gouna and Kom se Pad features. Her other Forest Books include
her most famous book, Circles in a Forest (1984) as well as Fiela's Child (1985), and Dream Forest (2003). The Mulberry Forest book bought publicity to the fate of several Italians who came to South Africa
in 1881 in hopes of starting a silk industry. Persuaded by government under using false pretences,
the Italians who arrived here were shocked when they realized they were expected to
cultivate mulberry trees and start a new life in the untamed Knysna forest, which in those days still had lots of wild elephants!
Into the forest on Terblans walk.
Moss.
