Today's hike brought me to perhaps the most sought after exclusive tourist holiday resort beach on the entire south coast of Africa.
It's mid summer here in the little known hidden treasure of a location, called the Garden Route, which stretches about 100km along the central southern shoreline of the continent.
Since school holidays are recently over, the majority of local tourists have returned to their homes in the big cities. Only the wealthiest urban elite (and those with dollars or euro) can afford to come spend a holiday in this exclusive magical nature Hotspot.
However, the second wave of tourists, this time international, will arrive in coming days to escape their European winter chill and bask here on these southern shores.
The entire Garden Route coastline is a real Goldilocks zone, where the climate is just right. Not too hot and not too cold all year through, it provides a perfect holiday space for nature lovers, whether families or lone explorers.
Today my hike took me to one of the most beautiful of all the beaches in the region, called Robberg beach, in the town known as Plettenberg Bay. It's just after sunrise on an early summer's morning and the beach is relatively empty, certainly by international standards.
Africa is so big and here it's so sparsely populated, so the long stretch of beach has only a few locals with all this beautiful open shoreline to themselves.
The pure soft white beach sand is so attractive to me. I've not seen this kind of super fine white sand in many other beaches in the world. Certainly not in India, and even Thailand beach sand is not as soft and white.
Also it's so clean with hardly any litter. This time I did, however, find one plastic water bottle with some Asian writing. On rare occasions they wash up, probably from Asian tankers or fishing vessels offshore, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, an alternative route instead of the Suez Canal between east and west.
Actually, the water bottle was not the only thing to wash ashore from the passing ships beyond the horizon. I also saw today the biggest object I've ever seen to wash up on these beaches. It's almost the size of a small car, and appears to be a metal bouy, covered in hard plastic.
I presume it fell off a tanker and was washed ashore by the swell. It has been on this beach for a few days now and looks too heavy to move without a truck or some big construction vehicle to move it. I wonder if the local municipality will eventually get a vehicle to move this thing?
The ocean trade route around the south coast of Africa has really increased its traffic recently, after all the trouble for tankers using the usual trade routes up north. So more passing ships means more strange litter washing up, I guess.
Still the beach looks epic and pure, clean and healthy. The water color is a shade of aquamarine, which is a light green mixed with turquoise. It's so really inviting. And the sea is amazingly warm now. Not as warm as Thailand admittedly, but warm enough to want to swim all day.
There are even waves for those who enjoy surfing, albeit small waves. There are better surf beaches further along the coast, but for beauty, convenience, accessibility and cleanliness, this beach is a winner.
With the main national highway running right through the local town just a few hundred meters from the beach itself, it's the easiest place to find, while also being very safe, (crucial in crime-infested South Africa) and very up-market, by local standards. So it's most appealing for international travelers.
I love it here so much. In fact I guarantee that you will love it so much, that you might feel inspired to stay. At least be sure to visit once in your lifetime to compare this beach with others you've encountered on your travels. This Garden Route coastline may end up being in your top ten list of favorite beaches.
It certainly feels like paradise to me.
Photos my own. Uploaded from my mobile device and published onto the Hive blockchain for all treasure hunters and travelers of our beautiful planet.
Notice the moon in this image?
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin -34.09588 lat 23.37404 long Robberg beach d3scr))
I must agree, the Plet beaches are great, and on the left hand side of the hotel, it is great to swim as well. I did not visit Plet recently, I need to go there again some time. (The Past holiday, I was in Grootbrak and came as far as Knysna, I actually like the beach at Brenton more than the one at Plet, although swimming is a bit on the dangerous side at Brenton)
Gorgeous photos @julianhorack, I've not been to the Garden Route for many moons! Nice that there still are unspoilt beaches to visit, you make me want to get up and take a drive up or down the coast.
Thanks Lizelle yes this region is one of the last truly unspoilt areas, you will love it here. Traveling is fun if you're prepared.
We were talking about Africa in a group of friends this afternoon actually. I have always been of the impression that it is a dangerous place to visit but honestly, don't have any genuine information to back that up. Those beaches do look pretty darn awesome though and the dogs enjoying their time there is just icing on the cake for me. I am a sucker for dogs going exploring.
Maybe some day I will make my way over there but with such an enormous continent, I really wouldn't even know where to start.
Yes Africa is possibly the largest land mass on the planet. I've been to some of my neighboring countries, like Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mauritius (which might be considered part of Africa) but none of them compare to the beauty of these southernmost shores with their world class beaches. That's probably due to the rare climate and the flora, among other things.
I would recommend landing in Cape Town and then traveling east to this region called the Garden Route. Crime is a risk in the city, so don't go out at night alone or carry expensive items around. Check out the nature areas in the Cape province in general and you'll be impressed.
Wow,what a stunning beach!Your descriptions of the soft white sand,the clear aquamarine water,and the overall pristine condition are captivating.It sounds like a true hidden gem,specially appealing for its exclusivity and safety.
Hey there Analyn I'm glad you like the photos and description. The truth is it's so beautiful here that it inspires me every time I visit.
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Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!Hey there Kim that's awesome, thank you so much. I'm honored and will post more photos of my wonderful travels.
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Awesome thank you so much. This place should be on the travel map for sure.
Beautiful shoots 😍
Thank you I'm glad you like them.
This beach looks very beautiful. I like it very much. Thank you for such a nice post.
Hey there, my pleasure, I'll post more photos for you to admire.
Thank you 😊
It's really beautiful, I really enjoy it❤️
Yes the beauty here uplifts the mood and inspires good health.
That's right, I'm already entertained just looking at it❤️
This amazing place in Africa is very beautiful to look at and the amazing view of flowers by the sea gives a really mind-blowing feeling. All in all your trip and spending some time with this amazing scenery is very refreshing. I wish you success in this journey.
Thank you Dr Akash, indeed this place is a good region to send people who need a retreat in nature to heal.
Yes my pleasure you are right thanks for everything with your travel
Love the walk you had here!
Last year I visited SA and also ended up in this region as was totally stunned by the coastline as you also mention. Plet was also super fun as there was some kind of music festival with a lot of youngsters going on?
But damn...that sea was cold! Shockingly cold from what I remembered, especially heading a bit more around the corner towards the atlantic side... brrrrr
Stunning though! Lovely hike you had and the doggos look super happy
Its so mesmerizing to see this kind of photos that you shared to us. thank you for sharing this breathtaking nature of yours and we will hope that we also experienced exploring more beaches ,especially the most beautiful garden route😍
Hey there thanks for your kind feedback. Yes I have all this paradise to myself and a few rare fortunate strangers here on this shoreline far from the rest of the planet. It's a great place for travellers and perhaps you might make it here if you are fortuante.
Your welcome and yes your fortunate to witness that kind of a wonderful place in earth