Day 195: Tsitsikamma NP – Mossel Bay

Tsitsikamma bids us farewell with a whale sighting despite the rather gloomy weather.

First, we head through the mountains with their dense, green fynbos vegetation. From the sea, there's spray and mist, while on land, clouds and high fog.

By the way: The hinterland of Knysna is said to be home to the Garden Route's last wild elephants. It's entirely conceivable.

Ahead of us lies the Whale Coast, formerly a whaling base, now a tourist hotspot with the possibility of spotting whales from land between July and October.

It's the beginning of our last week of driving. And the final return to civilization.

Saturday shopping and traffic jams. Full but well-stocked supermarkets. Strawberries. Raspberries. Good bread. Double cream plain yogurt. Everything delicious.

Books with local flavor as light reading for the next few days.

Filling up the tank one last time.

We stop in Mossel Bay. The "De Bakke Santos" campsite is not the best one, and with around 150 pitches, it must be quite busy in high season. At night, there are drivers who have to show off their horsepower. Police cars with sirens a la Miami Vice. Partying on the beach – it's Saturday, after all. The restaurant offerings are also not the best.

But we visit the Bartolomeo Dias Museum. Dias was the first European to circumnavigate Africa's southernmost point without really noticing it, as he was swept off course. On February 3, 1488, he landed in Mossel Bay. Even before Vasco da Gama, who is actually considered the discoverer of the sea route around Africa to India. By the way: We're researching again that Magellan was the first circumnavigator – a nice story about the one day that was then missing in the logbook...

The museum features a replica of the Caravelle. This ship sailed from Portugal to Mossel Bay to mark its 500th anniversary. The only concession to modern times: good beds and toilets :-)