Garden Route part 1 - La Route des Jardins

After the heat of the Kleine Karoo, we go southwards and as soon as we arrive at the Pass, we drive thru clouds to arrive in the rain and cold at the coast in Mossel Bay.
This is where the first Europeans landed in 1488, the Portuguese Bartholomeo Diaz, then about 10 years later the famous Vasco da Gama. However, there are traces of the first inhabitants going back 164.000 years as showed by the remains found in a cave here in Mossel Bay.

The oldest inhabitants of South Africa were the SAN, which the Dutch names  BUSHMEN, hunter-gatherers. They are genetically the closest to the oldest human, to the origin of anatomically modern humans. Nowadays they live mostly in the Kalahari. Souvenez-vous du film "Les Dieux sont tombes sur la tete".
Then about 2000 years ago, came the KHOIKHOI which the Dutch named HOTTENTOT, farming and grazing livestock. Like the natives in the US, many died because of the diseases brought in by the Europeans.

This is also the beginning of the GARDEN ROUTE which we will follow for several days.
 The Garden Route is a popular and scenic stretch of the south-eastern coast of South Africa. It stretches from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to the Storms River which is crossed along the N2 coastal highway over the Paul Sauer Bridge in the extreme western reach of the neighbouring Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and the numerous lagoons and lakes dotted along the coast.http://www.gardenroute.co.za/


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Replique du navire avec lequel Bartholomeo Diaz a atteint Mossel Bay.

bbbrrrrrrr... surtout apres la chaleur du Kleine karoo;

pretty cold after the Kleine Karoo heat.

Rochers spectaculaires - never saw this kind of color combination before.

Monument honoring the WW1 heroes.

Premiere Guerre Mondiale.

Every country uses its local flowers for the monuments ; here Proteas.

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Looks more and more like the North Sea;

on s'approche de la Mer du Nord.

This IS the North Sea :-)

On est a Koksijde ou a Knokke.

And here we are in the English countryside, aren't we ?

... and here in Holland.