If the name makes you think of neatly trimmed hedges, cups of tea and wicker chairs, think again. The Garden Route is the central and most stunning portion of the road trip between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. For most of its length the Garden Route steers a narrow course between the glittering beaches of the Indian Ocean and the rugged Tsitsikamma Mountains, giving you a front-row view of one of the richest and most diverse plant communities on earth, the Cape Floral Kingdom.
Key stops on our Garden Route tours include Gansbaai, a hard working fishing village that gives access to some of the most wildlife-rich waters in the world, with sharks and whales easily seen just offshore; Plettenberg Bay, a relaxed seaside town surrounded by beautiful sandy beaches where dolphins cruise the shoreline; and Storms River, set amid the lushly forested hills of Tsitsikamma National Park. The rain forests here are bursting with opportunities to do adventurous things: try a zip line ride through the tree canopy, go backwater inner tubing, or if you've got an appetite for something more extreme, confront the world's highest bungee jump – an insane 216 metres from bridge deck to riverbed – from the Bloukrans River Bridge