Jul 203 min read

3 Days in the Big Forest

From the itinerary: Day 6: Friday, 19 July 2024

You will be collected from The Portswood Hotel and driven to Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. Duration of the transfer is 3 hours.

Indulge during your 3 night stay at Grootbos Nature Reserve at Forest Lodge in a One Bedroom Luxury Suite with ensuite

bathroom. Your stay includes welcome drink served upon arrival, water, soft drinks, tea and coffee, minibar, fresh fruit daily in suite, breakfast, light lunch, 5-course dinner, horse

riding through the reserve, but not on the beach (weight limit 90kg/198lbs per person; children under the age of 12 only allowed on guided pony rides), Botanical Fynbos hike on the

reserve, milkwood forest walk, 4x4 Flower Safari, coastal drives with seasonal land-based whale watching (whale watching especially during July - December), beach Picnics, ancient

Klipgat Cave and Walker Bay Nature Reserve beach excursion, progressive Tourism Tour, bird-watching; experience a great

variety of bird species on the reserve, various maps of the reserve and the area for self-guided walks, children activities,

i.e., treasure hunts through the forest and fynbos, pony rides

and arts & crafts in the dedicated children playroom and transfers to/from all activities.

Weather: rainy and cool out of Cape Town- about 68 degrees. Really rainy at Grootbos with occasional thunderstorms

A sleep in day for me with an average breakfast buffet.

Had a quick walk around the waterfront

And back to the hotel to pick up my luxury car for the ride to Grootbos

The driver kept wanting to tell me about the black townships, but I was busy looking at the pretty scenery of the ocean.

The drive provided lovely views of Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean as we drive south, over the mountain pass to Grootbos

As we crossed into the valley the skies started to clear and a rainbow came out

We drove through Hermanus where I remember being with Chris 20 years ago. I was surprised to see so many thatched roofs

There were Baboons as well came into the property. Grootbos means big forest and this private reserve contains the largest forest of milk wood trees in the world.

This is where I met up with my friends Lisa and Rob who Chris and I met and befriended over 2 years ago in S. America. This year I’ll be vacationing more with Lisa than with Chris! We’ll be touring together now to the end of this trip. Rob has his hands full:)

Bongani is our butler for our stay. He lives nearby with his two children - one 10, the other 6. He’s worked here several years. (This is Rob in the photo with Bongani, not one of Bongani’s children…)

We chose our activities for our stay and were offered a welcome drink - Grootbos iced tea. The view out of the hotel is beautiful.

The rooms are beautiful and have a wood burner which was lit when I came back from dinner

Lunch was incredibly good -Rob/I split a venison burger. Lisa/I had the carpaccio and Rob had mushroom soup. Rob had lemon/lavender cake and Lisa honey ice cream for dessert.

In the afternoon we went for a nature walk for the brief period of dry which didn’t last long. The rain started again at the end which turned into a thunderstorm and a real downpour.

During the walk we saw many interesting things which included cocktail ants, confetti bushes, and milk wood trees. Milk wood trees can live for 800 years and take another 200 to deteriorate.