The Agulhas Plain and Garden Route(6 Days)

Birds: 10/10
Scenery: 10/10
General tourism value: 9/10

Day 1: Drive from Cape Town to Hermanus, stopping at Sir Lowry's Pass, Betty's Bay and Harold Porter Botanical Gardens on the way.

Day 2: Drive through the Agulhas Plain from Hermanus to De Hoop Nature Reserve, visiting Cape Agulhas and other sites of interest.

Day 3: Explore De Hoop and Potberg before driving through to Knysna. Overnight at the Bush Lodge, Phantom Forest.

Day 4: Explore the Knysna forests. Overnight at the Bush Lodge, Phantom Forest.

Day 5: Drive from Knysna to the Tsitsikamma National Park, stopping at Natures Valley en route. Overnight at Storms River Mouth.

Day 6: Explore Tsitsikamma before driving to the Sedgefield Lakes on the return journey to Cape Town.

Overview:

Sandwiched between the sea and the rugged fold-belt mountains of the southern Cape, 450 km east of Cape Town, the Garden Route winds over mountainsides dappled with fynbos flowers before it plunges into the thickly forested gorges where cola-coloured rivers flow. This region is cloaked with the most extensive tracts of indigenous forests in South Africa, and is home to a host of Afrotropical highlandendemic bird species. Among the special birds we can see here are Forest Buzzard, Knysna Turaco, Narina Trogon, Knysna and Olive woodpeckers, Grey Cuckooshrike, Chorister and Starred robins, Yellow-throated and Knysna warblers, Olive Bush Shrike, Black-bellied Glossy Starling, Swee Waxbill, Forest Canary, Blue-mantled and Paradise flycatchers, Terrestrial Bulbul, Cinnamon and Tambourine doves, and Bar-throated Apalis. At night, the bubbling call of the Wood Owl is not uncommon, and we may even hear the phantom-like hooting of the diminutive Buff-spotted Flufftail, one of Africa's most elusive forest birds. Along the forested estuary banks, we should pick up the rare Half-collared Kingfisher, and possibly catch a glimpse of the elusive African Finfoot.

The first three days of this tour comprise the extended Agulhas Plain Tour VII, taking in the Cape fynbos and Agulhas Plain endemics. Instead of visiting Grootvadersbosch, we drive on to the richer forests of Knysna, Nature's Valley and the Tsitsikamma National Park, all set in some of the most magnificent coastal scenery in southern Africa.