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CAPE TOWN AREA INFORMATION
Cape Town
Area information
Cape Town is one of the top international destinations in the world. With its rich natural beauty and cultural diversity, its cosmopolitan shops, vast range of accommodation options, world-class coffee shops, restaurants, bars and night clubs, the city attracts the world's celebrities and the trendy set, but is also loved by adventure seekers and nature lovers and those in search of cultural experiences.
Scenic Cape Town
A visit to Cape Town would not be complete without a scenic drive along the Atlantic Seaboard, known as the 'Riviera' of Cape Town, with its beautiful upmarket suburbs including Camps Bay, Bantry Bay and Llandudno, to the False Bay coastline. This coast boasts many seaside villages and hamlets, picnic spots and lookout spots and is home to the visiting whales who enter the bay to calve in season.
Here the waters of the Indian Ocean are popular with swimmers and surfers all year round and the quaint towns of Kalk Bay and Simon's Town, the historical naval base, invite browsers to their craft shops and boutiques.
Closer to Cape Town's centre, The Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is world renowned for the beauty and diversity of its Cape flora. Set against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain it grows only indigenous South African plants on its 528 hectares and supports a diverse fynbos flora and natural forest.
Historical Cape Town
Cape Town is steeped in history and the beautiful architecture and many fascinating museums document the city's past. The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest surviving building in South Africa and a national monument which accommodates the famous William Fehr Collection of historic artworks and the Castle Military Museum. The Company Gardens where the Slave Lodge Museum and South African Museum are housed should be high on the agenda of those interested in history and local culture.
The District Six Museum provides a fascinating insight into the history of forced removals in South Africa during the Apartheid Era, while Bo-Kaap on the slopes of Signal Hill is an historical centre of Cape Malay culture.
A visit to Robben Island, across Table Bay, once a place of banishment, exile and isolation, is a heart-rending experience which incorporates a tour of the prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years
Shopping
From the bustling flea market at Greenmarket Square which is packed with interesting African curios and hand crafted works of art, to the sophisticated malls of V&A Waterfront, Canal Walk and Cavendish Square, Cape Town has a shopping experience for everyone!
The malls provide entertainment for both children and adults with cinema theatres, games arcades and many restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
Food & Wine
Cape Town has a huge variety of excellent restaurants which offer a range of cuisine from local Cape Malay food and traditional African meals to global fusion dishes. There are also French, Italian, German, English, Mexican, Indian, Thai, Japanese and Chinese restaurants in abundance. Most restaurants generally offer a good selection of top local wines.
There are 13 wine producing regions in and around Cape Town, some in Cape Town itself and others a short scenic drive away
We recommend the Constantia area, the birthplace of the wine farming industry in South Africa, while a trip to the Stellenbosch will take you to the centre of the wine industry where nearly 100 different cellars are open to the public. Neighbouring Franschhoek and Paarl and also top producers of wine, while the former has the added reputation of being the Gourmet Capital of South Africa
Outdoor Adventure
Cape Town and the Western Cape rocks is the ultimate sporting mecca and provides an outdoor playground of mountains, rivers, oceans and forests for adventure seekers. Cycling, hiking, running, scuba diving, sailing, kite surfing, hang gliding, rock climbing, abseiling….you name it, Cape Town has it all!
WESTERN CAPE AREA INFORMATION
The Garden Route
South Africa's Garden Route coast is one of the most scenic stretches of coastline in the world. With its numerous lakes and mountain ranges, beaches and bays, the landscape also features indigenous forests, amber-coloured rivers and fields of fynbos (the indigenous vegetation). This natural wonderland boasts many bird and wildlife species and offers visitors a host of leisure options and adventure activities.
Gecko Transport & Tours specialises in day tours and 3-6 night Garden Route and Eastern Cape tours which focus on the area's most popular towns along the coast from Heidelberg to Storms River including Wilderness, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay (also know as Plett), as well as the villages and towns along Cape Route 62, including Bonnievale, Robertson, Calitzdorp and Oudshoorn, and the Langkloof region including Kareedouw and Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Cape.
Restaurants
The Garden Route boasts many eateries offering a variety of dining experiences to suit different tastes and budgets, from coffee shops and bakeries to fine-dining restaurants. We are familiar with them all and are happy to make recommendations according to your personal preference.
Sport Activities
There is no shortage of fun activities for the whole family in Knysna and Plett and the temperate climate encourages holiday-makers to spend as much time as possible outdoors. With access to many rivers, lakes and the sea, popular activities include a variety of water sports such as canoeing, fishing, sailing, surfing, skiing and diving.
The indigenous forests of Knysna offer great mountain bike trails which are graded according to difficulty.
The area has some of the most spectacular hiking trails in the world - through forest, fynbos landscapes and along the rugged coastline. Permits are required and we will gladly arrange these for our clients.
The Garden Route is a golfer's paradise, with many world-class golf courses between Plett and Mossel Bay, including Goose Valley, Plettenberg Bay Golf Course, Knysna Golf Course, Simola Golf & Country Estate, Pezula Championship Course, Ou Baai, and Fancourt in George (host of the 2003 Presidents Cup). Golf clubs can be hired at most of these courses.
The area has become sought after for its adrenalin activities. The lakes, forests, ocean and mountains provide a host of activities to test the limits of adventure seekers!
Experience the exhilaration of abseiling the 30m Beachcomber Caves and a sheer cliff-face known as Needle Point (55m) at Featherbed Nature Reserve.
For a unique eco-wilderness adventure, book a treetop canopy tour in the indigenous Tsitsikamma Forest which involves traversing from one platform to another along a steel cable suspended up to 30 metres above the forest floor.
Or try the zipline tour at the Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure Park - a tour of eight cable rides over the Kruis River and down a ravine over three waterfalls! The longest slide is 211 metres and 50 metres above the ground.
For the ultimate thrill and if you want to see the spectacular beauty of the area from the air, try skydiving - solo or tandem, the perfect way for a non- jumper to experience the thrill with very little training.
Or try the highest commercially operating bungy jump in the world at Tsitsikamma from the Bloukrans Bridge - at 216 metres, the highest single span arch bridge in the world!
Beaches
The Garden Route has some of the best beaches in the country with soft, white sand and many tidal and rock pools. The warm currents of the Indian Ocean mean that sea temperatures are pleasant, even in the winter months, but bathers should be aware of rip tides and always pack suntan lotion, drinking water and a hat!
Animal sanctuaries
Lovers of nature and wild animals have the opportunity to visit a variety of animal sanctuaries in the area.
The area's news sanctuary is the Tenikwa Wildlife Awareness Centre at Plettenberg Bay which offers a truly unique wildcat experience. Here you will meet South Africa's lesser indigenous cats, branded The Furry Five - captive-bred black-footed cats, African wild cats, Caracal, Serval and cheetah - living in a semi-natural environment.
Monkeyland is a unique primate sanctuary, home to many varied species of monkey from several continents which were captive-bred prior to their release at the world's only multi-species, free roaming primate sanctuary.
The Knysna Elephant Park offers a rare and exciting opportunity to get up close and personal with the elephants, which live in a controlled, free range environment just outside Knysna. Visitors are allowed to touch and feed the elephants, Harry, Sally and Duma.
The Elephant Sanctuary at the Crags near Plettenberg Bay is home to six African Elephants, Maroela, Jabu, Thandi, Mopani, Thaba and Tumelo. It provides a safe-haven for the elephants and offers a platform for guest education and interaction in a beautiful indigenous forest setting.
Spend a morning at Birds of Eden, the largest free flight bird aviary in the world. A top eco-tourism attraction the unique two hectare dome spans a gorge of indigenous forest and houses over 100 species of birds.
Entertainment
The Knysna Playhouse is a new 200-seat intimate venue in the heart of the Knysna which provides a comfortable auditorium for a wide variety of performances and houses a series of theatrical productions throughout the year.
For the young at heart, Plett and Knysna provide late night entertainment at clubs, oyster bars, pubs, and taverns. Plett is home to the annual matric rage in December, when thousands of students from all over South Africa arrive to celebrate the end of their school days.
Both Knysna and Plett have cinemas which screen recently-released movies daily.
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