Seeing that I wrote about my cheetah and elephant encounters, I figured I might as well say something about my entire Knysna trip, where it all happened. My friend and I went to Knysna for a weekend to see what the town had to offer, besides oysters. If you’re ever headed to Knysna for a weekend or short stay you can use this as a guideline for places to eat or things to do in a limited time period.
First stop was a restaurant called The Firefly Eating House for dinner. I won’t go into too much detail but if you’re ever in Knysna, give it a visit (you can read my review here). Then off to check into our accommodation.
We stayed at Under Milkwood, a self-catering lodge near the Knysna Heads. We had a four-sleeper wooden cabin, fully equipped and very cosy. Depending on which chalet you get, you’ll have views of the lagoon.
The next morning we had to be up early for breakfast at Ile de Pain on Thesen Island – about 10 minutes from where we were staying. Breakfast was mmm! We ordered a cream cheese, salmon, capers and egg croissant and coffee. Heavenly.
After breakfast it was off to Tenikwa Wildcat and Wildlife Sanctuary in Plettenberg Bay where we had some time to meet the wild ones, and you can read about that and see pics here.
When we were done it was too early for lunch so we stopped on the way back to Knysna at a roadside rendezvous called The Heath. It’s a farmstall, cafe, eagle sanctuary, play area, furniture store and nursery all on one site. Our 15-minute stop turned into an hour of browsing all the handmade soaps, jewellery, decorated pebbles, bags and endless amounts of other fun stuff.
For lunch we went to a place called 34 Degrees South (the name just says 34 South) at the Waterfront. This place has everything you can possibly think of ordering. Ok, not everything, but pretty close. As all their banners say, they’re ‘Not exactly a restaurant, not exactly a deli, not exactly a bar … ‘ I’m not sure what exactly they are but either way, they filled the gap in my tummy. My friend had fish and chips and I ordered sushi with a side order of fries.
The rest of the day we shopped at the Waterfront, relaxed and waited for our lagoon cruise for dinner. We tried to take a nap before the cruise but it wasn’t long before we had to rise and shine and head to the waterfront again. The cruise went from the Waterfront to a few metres from the Knysna Heads and back.
Next day … yes … breakfast again. This time at East Head Cafe. I love this place. It’s right at the tip of the Eastern Head which is opposite the other Knysna Head. I took lots of pics of this cafe because I think it’s an awesome spot for breakfast and lunch and the decor is simple but fantastic!
After breakfast we headed for the Knysna Elephant Park. You can read about my experience here.
That was the last of our activities before we had to make our way back home. But first we stopped at the Garden of Eden for a stroll in the forest and then further on we took a bit of a detour to Noetzie. We were told there are all sorts of castles there. We got there, after walking down millions of stairs (which we had to climb again on the way back). It wasn’t quite what I expected. They weren’t really castles, they were houses and some B&Bs that are made to look like castles – interesting though, and the beach was beautiful.
It was a good trip. I’ve been to Knysna before but really didn’t do much while I was there (the weather wasn’t great). But next time I’m there I’ll definitely visit the restaurants again and maybe go back to Tenikwa for a ‘walk with cheetahs while they go for their morning/evening stroll’. It’s 400 bucks – a bit steep, but when will I ever get to take a cheetah for a walk?
