Today was a day trip out of Knysna to Oudtshoorn. Over the Outeniqua Pass through some magnificent country. We crossed a valley with a specific micro-climate that is the source of all the hops produced in South Africa. As we approached Oudtshoorn we began seeing Ostrich farms. They have been a major presence here since the late 1800s. In the early days, the major product was ostrich feathers. It is claimed that a pound of ostrich feathers was worth as muc...

We spent the day touring in the Knysna area, first travelling about 30 km. to Plettenberg Bay and then returning and touring Knysna. Both places are major tourism spots with a large number of retirees. Restaurants are numerous. There is obviously no shortage of wealth with some spectacular homes. This is on the Garden Route and the name is certainly deserved. Lots of beaches and great scenery. The most spectacular are the Knysna Heads that guard the entra...

We are now in a very different area of South Africa. Hard to believe it is the same country as the north and east. Everything in the Cape provinces, of which Port Elizabeth (P.E.) is capital of the East Cape, is green and lush, whereas the north and east is dry, hot. Some of the current northern landscape can be blamed on the drought, but it probably is the nature of the climate and land capability naturally. Port Elizabeth is quite an industrial centre wit...