#Plettenberg Bay

[hella-gay-trash]

Clips from our visits to see the in-laws (and meeting hubby for the first time irl) in South Africa in 2021, 2022 and 2023

[travelella]

Plettenberg Bay, Garden Route District, Bitou Municipality, Western Cape Province, South Africa

Thomas Bennie

[jobthomas]

Plettenberg & Grabouw

In September, we went for a week to Plettenberg Bay. We had a relaxed time, going to the beach several times. The food highlight was definitely Barrington’s, a local brewery with tasty meals. Our usual visit to Île de Païn in Knysna was also on the schedule. On the way back, we stopped in Grabouw for a few days as well at Houw Hoek Inn, the place where we got married almost 10 years ago. We…

[nfornaomi]

A bright and sunny day today (finally!) - perfect for bungee jumping and a hike 😁.

We drove to Bloukrans Bridge in the morning so Rob and Laura could jump off the highest bungee jumping site in the world. Although I have to say that Google tells me Macau has the highest jump site now 😜. Anyways, it's 216m up and something I had no desire to experience for myself, but they had a great time so it was a good outing.

We then hiked the Robberg Peninsula in the afternoon - about 9.5km in 3 hours, excluding breaks. It was gorgeous, super scenic with changing scenery from cliffs to beaches to sand to rocks. We saw seals frolicking in the waves, and also had many baboon encounters. It's actually a bit scary because at the parking lot we saw a baboon trying to push the men's bathroom door open, but eventually give up and go into the women's bathroom instead. Rob then goes into the men's and a screech unlike anything I've heard before reaches us as Rob rushes back out - it turns out there was already a baboon in the bathroom 🤣😂.

[herpsandbirds]

Knysna Turaco (Tauraco corythaix), family Musophagidae, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa

Photograph by rajgoreloves

[haveyoubeentothiscity]

Population: 31,804

Note that Plettenberg Bay is colloquially called Plett.

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics South Africa roster

Archery

Wian Roux (Pretoria)

Athletics

Adrian Swart (Caledon)

Akani Simbine (Kempton Park)

Phatutshedzo Maswanganyi (Soweto Township)

Benjamin Richardson (Pretoria)

Wayde Van Niekerk (Kraaifontein)

Zakithi Nene (Ladysmith)

Lythe Pillay (Benoni)

Edmund Du Plessis (Pretoria)

Tshepo Tshite (Pretoria)

Ryan Mphahlele (Johannesburg)

Adriaan Wildschutt (Ceres)

Bayanda Walaza (Pretoria)

Bradley Nkoana (Potschefstroom)

Sinesipho Dambile (Dimbaza)

Gardeo Isaacs (Cape Town)

Antonie Nortje (College Station, Texas)

Stephen Mokoka (Mahikeng)

Elroy Gelant (Pacaltsdorp)

Brian Raats (Tshwane)

Jovan Van Vuuren (Bloemfontein)

Cheswill Johnson (Johannesburg)

Kayle Blignaut (Rome, Italy)

Francois Prinsloo (Worcester)

Victor Hogan (Vredenburg)

Cian Oldknow (Johannesburg)

Miranda Coetzee (Phokeng)

Prudence Sekgodiso (Gauteng)

Marioné Fourie (Vanderbijlpark)

Zenéy Geldenhuys (Pretoria)

Rogail Joseph (Worcester)

Irvette Van Zyl (Sandton)

Gerda Steyn (Bothaville)

Miné De Klerk (Welkom)

Jo-Ané Van Dyk (Worcester)

Badminton

Johanita Scholtz (Cape Town)

Canoeing

Hamish Lovemore (Durban)

Andy Birkett (Pretoria)

Tiffany Koch (Cape Town)

Esti Olivier (Bloemfontein)

Climbing

Mel Janse-Van Rensburg (Lephalale)

Josh Bruyns (Pretoria)

Lauren Mukheibir (Bryanston)

Aniya Holder (Gqeberha)

Cycling

Ryan Gibbons (Johannesburg)

Jean Spies (Randburg)

Alan Hatherly (Durban)

Vincent Leygonie (Krugersdorp)

Ashleigh Pasio (Pretoria)

Tiffany Keep (Durban)

Candice Lill (Port Shepstone)

Miyanda Maseti (Johannesburg)

Diving

Julia Vincent (Johannesburg)

Equestrian

Alexander Peternell (Roodepoort)

Fencing

Harry Saner (Johannesburg)

Field hockey

Andrew Hobson (Somerset West)

Mustapha Cassiem (Cape Town)

Abdud Cassiem (Cape Town)

Jacques Van Tonder (Bloemfontein)

Bradley Sherwood (Pietermaritzburg)

Keenan Horne (Cape Town)

Tevin Kok (Kokstad)

Matthew Guise-Brown (London, U.K.)

Ryan Julius (Cape Town)

Daniel Bell (Johannesburg)

Nic Spooner (Hamburg, Germany)

Zenani Kraai (Johannesburg)

Nqobile Ntuli (Durban)

Sam Mvimbi (Plettenberg Bay)

Gowan Jones (Durban)

Calvin Davis (Botha's Hill)

Stephanie Botha (Oudtshoorn)

Anelle Lloyd (Bethal East)

Celia Seerane (Pretoria)

Edith Molikoe (Gqeberha)

Kristen Paton (Cape Town)

Thati Zulu (Pretoria)

Dirkie Chamberlain (Pretoria)

Paris-Gail Isaacs (Bloemfontein)

Taheera Augousti (Bloemfontein)

Erin Christie (Johannesburg)

Ntsopa Mokoena (Bethlehem)

Hannah Pearce (Johannesburg)

Ongeziwe Mali (Gqeberha)

Marié Louw (Bloemfontein)

Kayla De Waal (Clermont)

Quanita Bobbs (Cape Town)

Kayla Swarts (Bloemfontein)

Golf

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Johannesburg)

Frederik Van Rooyen (Johannesburg)

Ashleigh Buhai (Johannesburg)

Paula Reto (Cape Town)

Gymnastics

Cait Rooskrantz (Johannesburg)

Judo

Geronay Whitebooi (Gqeberha)

Rowing

Christopher Baxter (Johannesburg)

John Smith (Germiston)

Paige Badenhorst (Benoni)

Rugby

Chris Grobbelaar (Durban)

Ryan Oosthuizen (Stellenbosch)

Impi Visser (Pongola)

Mogamat Davids (Cape Town)

Quewin Nortje (Pretoria)

Tiaan Pretorius (Stellenbosch)

Tristan Leyds (Somerset West)

Selvyn Davids (Jeffrey's Bay)

Shaun Williams (Mooinooi)

Rosko Specman (Makhanda)

Siviwe Soyizwapi (Nqanqarhu)

Shilton Van Wyk (Bloemfontein)

Ronald Brown (Pretoria)

Mathrin Simmers (Somerset West)

Zintle Mpupha (Xesi)

Sizophila Solontsi (Durban)

Veroeshka Grain (Stellenbosch)

Kemisetso Baloyi (Soshanguve)

Nadine Roos (Cape Town)

Liske Lategan (Groblersdal)

Byrhandré Dolf (Bloemfontein)

Ayanda Malinga (Pretoria)

Libbie Janse-Van Rensburg (Lephalale)

Marlize De Bruin (Johannesburg)

Maria Tshiremba (Johannesburg)

Skateboarding

Dallas Oberholzer (Durban)

Brandon Valjalo (Johannesburg)

Boipelo Awuah (Kimberley)

Surfing

Jordy Smith (Cape Town)

Matt McGillivray (Jeffery's Bay)

Sarah Baum (Durban)

Swimming

Pieter Coetze (Pretoria)

Chad Le Clos (Durban)

Matt Sates (Pietermaritzburg)

Tatjana Smith (Johannesburg)

Kaylene Corbett (Bloemfontein)

Erin Gallagher (Durban)

Aimee Canny (Knysna)

Rebecca Meder (Cape Town)

Triathlon

Henri Schoeman (Vereeniging)

Jamie Riddle (Stellenbosch)

Vicky Van Der Merwe (Cape Town)

Wrestling

Nicolaas De Lange (Bloemfontein)

[charlesandmartine]

Wednesday 17th April 2024

When dawn broke one could see the lights of Mossel Bay across the water, but as the sun came up, the mist started to come down. I guess that's just the way it is there. We had a quick breakfast, loaded the stuff into the VW, bade our farewells to this strange property, the sea front and the parrots and hit the road; this time the N2 bound for George. In all we expected roughly 3 hours elapsed time of motoring, but we intended to call in at Knysna; a town everyone seems to know and tell us we need to go to, but a place no-one seems to be sure about what's there. Anyway, we headed to the Waterfront which seemed a good starting point and were soon fixed up with an extremely palatable coffee and chocolate croissant. Most acceptable I'd say.

This part of the coast is firmly into the Garden Route, and our journey onwards East confirmed that the scenery is absolutely fabulous. Green, lush vegetation, tree clad mountains and picturesque lakes. Through Wilderness and on to Pine Lake which lay so still, not a ripple, it was just content to sit there all day reflecting the mountain behind. Soon we were passing the sign which declared we were now officially in the Eastern Cape.

We lunched in Plettenberg Bay, a comly little place designed very much for holiday makers. We fitted right in there and found a seat overlooking the beach which was full of happy families with designated tasks of building sandcastles. We left the VW in the good care of a carpark attendant, and in the age old tradition, by passing silver from one palm to the other, no harm would come to the car.

Life guards were nervously watching the bay and the swimmers. At one point everyone was called out of the water. Great Whites have been spotted recently and are, we are told, more likely April onwards. Hmm. Didn't see one but I'm sure he saw us!

Now we asked Mr Avis, taxi drivers all sorts, are there any toll roads in South Africa/ Garden Route? Oh no they all said. We don't have tolls. Well as soon as we plotted our route on Google to Jeffrey's Bay there it was, toll road. Don't you just know it. Anyway, we have plenty of spare change and this route saved us an hour, so we set off. Through forest, hill and dale we drove on an empty road, empty because you have to pay I guess. Anyway, we pulled into the booth, produced our R200 note and the girl said, oh, you don't have to pay. No explanation that we could understand, but we were free to go!

This is an interesting country. Clearly when a job needs doing, a white man calls for a black man. Mornings and evenings we see pickup trucks going back and forth picking up and dropping off teams of men and taking them to where the work is; often lawn maintenance, general building and in volume, road maintenance. They crowd into the backs of these vehicles often from pickup points along the roads. Archaic maybe but it seems to work. In its defence there seems a distinct attempt to create jobs even if it is so menial and perhaps unnecessary. For instance, people manually sweeping sand off a path by the beach or standing waving or holding limply a red flag near to roadworks. The sad thing is that they often seem to come out of the shanty towns on the outskirts of rather affluent white towns. We cannot judge as it's not our culture, but it is a little disconcerting.

We passed one such shanty town made up of rows and rows of tiny corrugated iron boxes, and I'm ashamed to say, were relieved when we crossed a river and into an area called Paradise Beach where we are lodged in a luxurious little house on stilts for the next three days.

ps We popped out for an evening meal at a restaurant recommended by our host. It could not be closer to the sea if it tried; the floor was sand! I had an excellent tuna steak and Martine a lamb shank but cooked in an amazing South African set of spices unknown. Absolutely delicious. The whole thing with tips and alcohol was less than £29!

pps over 31°C today.

ppps there was a malicious campaign afoot on the toll road into here disparaging the rights to baboons having a square meal. Big signs, Do Not Feed the Baboons. Fine for doing so, R500. Well we didn't see a single baboon along the 60k section hungry or otherwise.

[bestentours11]

Discover the Rainbow Nation: Top South Africa Tour Packages

South Africa, affectionately known as the Rainbow Nation, is a country that boasts an incredible diversity of cultures, landscapes, and experiences. It's a destination that appeals to all types of travelers, from those seeking adventure in the wild African bush to those who prefer the sophisticated charm of its cities. With such a vast array of attractions, choosing the right South Africa tour packages can be the key to unlocking the very best this country has to offer. In this article, we explore the top South Africa tour packages that promise to deliver an unforgettable journey through this vibrant nation.

1. The Safari Experience

No visit to South Africa is complete without experiencing its world-famous safaris. South Africa tour packages that include visits to the Kruger National Park offer an unparalleled wildlife viewing experience. Here, you can come face-to-face with the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo) in their natural habitat. These packages often include stays in luxury lodges, guided game drives at dawn and dusk, and even walking safaris for the more adventurous.

2. The Garden Route

For those who love scenic drives and outdoor activities, the Garden Route is a must-include in your South Africa tour packages. Stretching from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River in the Eastern Cape, this route offers stunning coastal views, dense forests, and serene beaches. Tour packages focusing on the Garden Route can include stops at key attractions like the Tsitsikamma National Park, Knysna, and Plettenberg Bay, with opportunities for hiking, bungee jumping, and whale watching.

3. Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula

Cape Town, with its iconic Table Mountain, vibrant waterfront, and rich history, is often the starting point of many South Africa tour packages. Exploring the Cape Peninsula, with visits to the Cape of Good Hope and the penguin colonies at Boulders Beach, provides a mix of natural beauty and wildlife. These packages might also include wine tasting tours in the Cape Winelands, exploring the historical Robben Island, and enjoying the city's renowned culinary scene.

4. The Cultural Heritage Tour

South Africa's history is both complex and fascinating, marked by stories of struggle and triumph. South Africa tour packages that focus on the country’s cultural heritage offer insights into its past, with visits to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, the Soweto Township, and Mandela’s House. These tours provide a deeper understanding of the country's journey to democracy and are essential for anyone looking to grasp the essence of the Rainbow Nation.

5. The Adventure Seeker’s Delight

For the thrill-seekers, South Africa tour packages can be tailored to include some of the most exhilarating activities available. From shark cage diving in Gansbaai to zip-lining in Tsitsikamma, South Africa is a playground for adventure. Other activities can include sandboarding in the Atlantis Dunes, hot air ballooning over the Magaliesberg, or even taking a leap off the world’s highest bridge bungee at Bloukrans.

6. The Luxury Escape

South Africa also caters to those seeking a more luxurious experience. High-end South Africa tour packages might include stays at exclusive lodges in private game reserves, gourmet dining experiences, and private tours of historical sites or vineyards. These packages offer a perfect blend of relaxation, indulgence, and adventure, set against the backdrop of some of the world’s most breathtaking landscapes.

In Conclusion

South Africa's diverse offerings make it a unique travel destination, and the right tour package can ensure that travelers enjoy a comprehensive and enriching experience. Whether it's wildlife, scenic beauty, cultural heritage, adventure, or luxury you seek, South Africa tour packages deliver it all, wrapped in the warm hospitality for which this country is renowned. As you plan your journey to the Rainbow Nation, consider these varied tour options to truly discover the best of South Africa.

[lightdrawer]

Plettenberg Bay, January ‘24

Portra160

[solarnav]

Solar compass web app together with an external protractor. There are two other versions that do not require an external protractor with gnomen. The web app converts shadow to target and target to shadow. (Who cares about North ?) It would be great if chatGPT voice could do this, but chatGPT cannot run a program to reply to a request to calculate target azimuth from shadow or vice versa, according to chatGPT). This app was tested on Samsung, Hisense, and feature phones Smart T and Vodacom Vibe. Its so easy to do its rediculous to think that no one can, at all ! To find North, enter shadow of 0 degrees, the target calculated will then be used as the new shadow value to line up the "0" on the protractor so that it points to True North. This app completes my ton of apps created for poor people (and eventually exceedingly rich people, aswell). Yet i cannot afford the web hosting fees, lawyers etc, being retired. Have a happy day spotting grunter at the Keurbooms river in Plettenberg Bay, where the simplest yabby / prawn pump ever was invented too: "The coke bottle prawn pump" or "The bottlehead prawn pump" that works only with 3 parts and is 100%. Not 99%. It is the Ferrari of prawn pumps ! Not the golf, as my sister suggested yesterday, until i let her test 1 today. Was invented many years ago now.

[jonathanbossenger]

Reflections on being employed to work in open source

It’s been a hell of a few weeks. On Saturday 21 September I was checked into a very nice hotel in the Garden Route town of Plettenberg Bay, ready to start a week’s vacation with my family. Meanwhile, half-way around the world, the WordPress world was about to change. Last Friday I started my work day with 159 less colleagues than I did that Monday. Many of them I’d never met or worked with,…

[wowtraveltour]

Cape Town Multi-Day Tours: An Epic Adventure Awaits

Cape Town is a vibrant city surrounded by breathtaking landscapes and rich cultural experiences, making it the perfect base for Cape Town Multi-Day Tours. Whether you’re an adventure seeker, a nature lover, or a history enthusiast, there’s a tour that caters to your interests. Here’s a guide to planning your epic multi-day adventure from Cape Town.

1. Explore the Cape Winelands

One of the most popular multi-day tours from Cape Town is to the Cape Winelands. This region is home to world-renowned vineyards and picturesque towns like Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Paarl. A two-day tour allows you to sample exquisite wines, enjoy gourmet dining, and explore the charming streets lined with Cape Dutch architecture. Many tours offer transportation and visits to various wineries, making it easy to taste local wines without worrying about driving.

2. Discover the Garden Route

The Garden Route is a stunning stretch of coastline that offers diverse landscapes, from lush forests to pristine beaches. A multi-day tour along this route typically includes stops at highlights like Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, and Tsitsikamma National Park. Engage in activities such as bungee jumping, hiking, or relaxing on the beach. The scenic drives and natural beauty make this an unforgettable adventure, perfect for nature enthusiasts and thrill-seekers alike.

3. Cape Peninsula Tour

For those keen to explore the natural wonders closer to Cape Town, consider a two-day Cape Peninsula Tour. Start by visiting iconic sites like Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, where you can hike scenic trails and spot diverse wildlife. The second day can include visits to Boulders Beach to see the African penguins, as well as charming coastal towns like Hout Bay and Simon’s Town. This tour offers a perfect blend of breathtaking views and rich biodiversity.

4. Cultural and Historical Tours

Cape Town is steeped in history, and multi-day tours focusing on its cultural heritage provide profound insights into South Africa's past. Consider a tour that includes visits to Robben Island, the District Six Museum, and the vibrant neighborhoods of Bo-Kaap and Langa. These experiences highlight the resilience and richness of Cape Town's diverse cultures, making for a meaningful journey.

5. Adventure Tours

If you're an adrenaline junkie, look for multi-day adventure tours that include activities like shark cage diving, whale watching, or hiking up Table Mountain. Many tour operators offer packages that combine these thrilling experiences with comfortable accommodations and expert guidance, ensuring a safe and exhilarating adventure.

Final Thought

Cape Town’s Multi-Day Tours offer an array of experiences that cater to every traveller’s interests. Every step on our tour will give you enough reasons to keep coming back for more. So, why wait? Start your journey with Wow Travels and Tours and plan your itinerary, pack your bags, and get ready for an unforgettable journey that showcases the best of what Cape Town and its surroundings have to offer!