Recently we stayed at both the Storms River Rest Camp and at Nature’s Valley in the Garden Route National Park, and it was pure heaven.
Storms River Rest Camp
Storms River Rest Camp was very kitted out for tourists, and is a popular international stay-over spot. There are a variety of different types of accommodation (all self-catering), with a shop and restaurant for those who like to eat out. Most of the chalets and campsites are right by the sea and we fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the crashing of waves against the rocks. There is a lovely walkway through the forest to the dramatic Storms River mouth, which can be crossed on a suspension bridge spanning the mouth.
We also visited the ‘Big Tree’, off the N2 and just past Storms River Village. This is one of South Africa’s more famous trees, being 1000 years old and standing 36.6 m high, with a circumference of 8.5 m. The tree started growing in 1190, and has witnessed many political and environmental changes in its time. The Big Tree is an Outeniqua yellowwood – a wood that is in high demand for furniture and house construction. The trunks of these trees were once used as topmasts of ships; popular in the 1800s and brought out of the forests by the traditional woodcutters who lived and died in these tsitsikamma forests.
Nature’s Valley
The adorable wooden chalets at the De Vasselot Camp Site look out on to the tannin-coloured Groot River in Natures Valley. The birds in the area are truly spectacular; the ‘piet my vrous’ call, the Knysna loeries chuckle and the bullbulls sing, and, to top it all off we both saw our first Narina Trogon! He was quietly ‘koo-kooing’ away to himself directly above us and we could see his scarlet underbelly and dark blue-green feathers from behind the branch. There are numerous frogs in the river, croaking happily away as the rain falls in the valley. It is a complete privileged to be in this piece of pristine nature.
Nature’s Valley is untouched and like a little secret hideout for those who know it is here. There is a beautiful indigenous forest growing all around the little village, with old Outeniqua yellowwoods, ironwoods, white pears, Cape chestnuts, and wild olives all around (to name a few!). You can tell that the long sandy beach is on the edge of a marine protected area because of all the bird and mollusk-life on the beach … there is always something interesting to examine and ponder over!
‘The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.’ – Edward Abbey
Visit Getaway Accommodation for more places to stay in Nature’s Valley.
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