Friday 12th December 2025
0415hrs urgh!!! The alarm went off, 30-minutes to get out and into the car then a 15-minute drive to the start of our Meerkat tour. We were given a piece of paper with instructions on how to drive to the start but it was dark, the map gave no idea as to distances and being a dirt road, the dust. As we pulled out of the lodge someone followed us and the way he drove suggested he knew how to get there, so let him overtake us. Good in a way “if” he was going to the tour, but bad as the dust he kicked up meant we had to stay well back and double guess; all rather concerning but once we hit a Mettled road we could catch him up and follow easily; Good call as he knew exactly where to go. When we arrived we asked him if he had been there before as he was so confident about the route, that’s when we knew we had been somewhat stupid, he’d used Sat Nav, why hadn’t we?????
After a talk and by now it was getting light we were split into two groups and given a fold up chair and our group was asked to follow our guide. The other group drove of somewhere!! After walking 200/300 meters the guide spread our chairs in an arc watching a few mounds of soil with burrows in; the meerkats underground housing complex and we waited. Our guide was very informative and kept talking and promising that they will appear when they are ready; we still waited. By now it was daylight but very overcast, no clear sky or sun and this meant the Meerkats weren’t in any hurry to come out, so we waited. Having sat down in the early morning with no activity we were getting cold, as we waited. The guide kept talking all things related to Meerkats and said many times they “will” appear when they are ready, so we waited. Apparently though their burrows are very deep they still get cold at night, and the first thing they have to do is get their muscles working and on a sunny morning they are eager to get going, this morning it was overcast no sun so no hurry to come out; we still waited. Amongst all the Meerkat information the guide gave us is they only have two missions in life; the first is to keep eating, from dawn to dust and the second to re-produce from dust to dawn!!!!! We still waited and by now many of us were fidgeting and shivering whilst we still waited.
At the lodge we were told the tour lasted no more than two hours and then we return for breakfast. By now our two hours was nearly up when out of the blue one popped its head up to survey the situation. According to our Meerkat Expert, they are extremely nervous animals and at the slightest shuffling sound they disappear, but talking, shouting or laughing is no problem and he proved this. He shouted loudly, nothing happened, he shuffled his shoe on the ground and the Meerkat quickly disappeared, but re-emerged once he/she realised there was no danger.
We stayed and observed them cleaning out their burrows and standing tall trying to get some heat into their bodies to get them moving. Eventually they slowly started to move away but by now we were both cold and hungry, so a number of us started the trek back to the lodge.
After breakfast we headed out; our destination was Knysna for two nights but our target is to get to “George”, stopping at several “lookout” points along the way to take in some stunning views. Arriving in George was a bit disappointing, it is a big town with the usual traffic etc., so finding somewhere to get a coffee wasn’t going to work so continued onto “Wilderness” along the “Garden Route”. Our first priority was to find a beach, Christine was feeling “hard done by” as not had “sea therapy” for so long!!! We found a beach; (tick-in-the-box), parked and went for a paddle, but B….y H..l it was cold👹👹. We had hoped that as we arrived into the Indian Ocean the sea would have been a little warmer, but no!! Now we discovered there were no bars or anything for a drink or coffee so left in disgust.
Driving along the N2 we came across a big service area so out of desperation pulled in. Though it was busy etc., we were asked to sit at a table when a waitress would come and take our order; “what at a service station???”; it was very good service too.
Back on the road we continued on the Garden Route until we reached our hotel, this time for two nights.
Our hotel: “Hotel Knysna Log Inn” is an all-wood construction made mainly out of the trunks of “Yellowwood” and other indigenous trees from the forests that were about this area.
Once settled we headed down to the waterfront, an area similar to the Cape Town waterfront, but about 25% of that area. There were a number of restaurants predominantly fish and sushi so we were very happy and chose one where we could get a seat overlooking the sea.
After another excellent meal we headed back to the hotel, a 10 minute walk, but unfortunately it was drizzling and neither of us had our raincoats; well. it is what it is!!! We are having an early night as we were up at 0415hrs!!!!