This post is originally from February 22, 2026

On Thursday we checked out of our guest house in Swellendam and drove just a few minutes out of town to a farm stall/gas station called Oude Post. Gas stations here in South Africa are nothing like those back in Canada. At home our gas stations are crusty, dusty and a little bit musty – here I would almost classify them as a tourist attraction! Yes they give you petrol (might I also add that there are no self-serve stations) but there are proper shops, CLEAN bathrooms and typically delicious places to eat. At this stop there were fresh roosterkoeke. In all my travels to SA I’ve never tried it and boy, I was missing out. To make a roosterkoeke, they have these big dough balls that they cook over an open fire and then when ready these fresh massive bread/buns would be filled with basically anything you want. We had tomato, cheese and caramelized onions. The bread was warm and out of this world. 

With our bellies full we drove about 3 hours to a coastal town called Wilderness. Wilderness is a small town on the southern coast of South Africa and part of the famous Garden Route. Although it is right on the ocean, it is also nestled among lush mountains with a river meandering through them. The river is known by locals as the Coca-Cola River because it is a rich brown colour from the iron in the soil. 

One of the places that is a known attraction in Wilderness is the Map of Africa. The Map of Africa is a spectacular viewpoint at Wilderness Heights where this chunk of land (looking like Africa is surrounded by the Kaaimans River.

We stayed at an Airbnb which was quite unique. We had to take a really steep road up a mountain to these self contained places. The place was quite simple but by being away from the town, we felt completely surrounded by nature. We had a lounge area that overlooked the beach and gave us the most spectacular bird watching moments. My favorites were the Knysna Loerie and the Greater Double-Collared Sunbird. Please google these two so you can understand how freaking incredible they look! 

On Friday we got our lazy-assed bodies moving and did a kayak trip through the river where we could look up and be dwarfed by green mountain peaks. We were warned that there could be snakes in the river which made me a tad nervous considering you were paddling in water that was not even the slightest bit clear. The cola colour made it interesting but Liza eased my mind by telling me that the snakes would only be at the surface so we could see them. I couldn’t  tell if she was just saying that to make me feel better or if that was actually true. Needless to say, the views were breathtaking and again we saw so many brightly coloured birds that truly took our breath away. After about a 3km paddle we set our boats to the side of the shore and hiked about 3.5 km through the forest to a beautiful waterfall. We saw some duikers and deer which was cool too. What more could you ask for right?! I guess because everything was picture perfect the only thing missing was a little bit of adversity. On our way back we certainly got that. The winds picked up to about 30km/hour and coming off the ocean we were absolutely blasted. It was so strong that I could barely open my eyes. Our paddles were getting blown every time we lifted them and it felt like we were paddling for our lives, but only to be pushed into the reeds. I couldn’t help but kill myself laughing as I’m sure we looked like two morons paddling up a river with no chance of moving forward! We did it though – eventually our Olympic toned bodies kept going and by the time we reached the kayak place we were absolutely drenched, wind blown and exhausted! I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way!