Day 119: The Crags to Knysna

Was a good day to get going although part of me didn’t really want to leave. I must go back there Cat, if you reading this. Said to cheers to David and off I was.

Look after my soul Bertrum.

Goodbye awesome house in the Crags.

Davids place.

Cheers David. Shot for the friendly company.

Was a nice downhill the first section where I stopped at a farmers market and bought some nougat. Damn it was good. Then it was a bit of an uphill getting past Plett before flattening out a bit with some more nice scenery to ride through.

Crossing Keurboom river.

I stopped at Radical Raptors which is a small raptor rehabilitation centre for birds that also does 3 daily shows. They have birds that cannot be put back in the wild but they do their best to also get those that can up and flying again before releasing them in the appropriate areas. Many of those that stay help out for the daily flying demonstrations. I had gotten there a little early so I bided my time till the next one. It was a bit sad seeing some of these amazing creatures that are meant to fly being tethered to the ground. This is not how it is all the time. This is only during the day before they are put in their enclosures. It’s up to each to decide how to view this practice. I was told that none of these bird had a chance out in the wild really so that is why they were here. It was then time for the show.

The bateleur eagle. My favorite since childhood.

Mr Bones.

There were four birds on show, Barney the barn owl, Chucky the spotted eagle owl, another rapture just outside of eagle class and a cape vulture called Mr. Bones. It was cool seeing them all fly about and land on our gloved hands. Only the owls did this. The third one did a mock hunt where it swooped down and caught a fake rat which in opinion looked like a turd with a tale but hey, it did the trick. Then Mr. Bones came along. Cape vultures are incredibly endangered and some of the facts I heard were terrible. But I couldn’t help but think, that damn, this bird was irritating. It had such a harsh sounding call which was its begging call we were told. I guess being that close to it made it that much more unbearable. Ok, annoying sound aside, it was a pretty cool bird. Then it was over and it was time to leave. I was glad to have visited and learnt something new and to have seen some more amazing birds.

Time for a show.

Barney the barn owl.

Awesome.

Charlie the spotted eagle owl.

Shielding its prey.

Mr Bones the Cape Vulture.

He was so noisy.

Give it a visit when you in the area.

I then checked out Harkerville as I was told by the guy I had met on the road a few days ago. It seemed like a lekker spot but I was in no mood to stay and do another mountain bike route. Maybe next time?

Harkerville.

Ill have to give these a go later.

It was an enjoyable downhill as I entered Knysna. I decided that I would check out the view from the Knysna heads now, instead of doing it tomorrow morning just to get it out of the way. So I took a slow ride along the estuary that is there before doing the uphill that awaited that would take me to the top. Man, these were some nice houses I was passing. I finally got to the top and got my pictures and enjoyed the view. It was a bit obscured by some of the mist and light from the setting sun but it was still impressive to see. Then it was time to find a place to sleep.

The downhill into Knysna.

All along the estuary.

At the top!!

Wouldnt mind a place to stay here for the night to be honest.

The Knysna Heads. I think the last time I was here was when I was 6 or 7 maybe.

Damn haze.

Time to find a place to stay. In the end it would be at the bottom.

I wanted to find a place here in the top area, but didn’t. This led me to the bottom of the hill where I did not feel like riding further as I also had the police in mind but I found an empty house and after much thought, decided to camp ninja style behind it so that no cars could see me plus with the hope that the actual owners would show up and kick me away. Luckily they didn’t. It wasn’t the most comfortable of sleeps as the ground was somewhat on an incline plus at one point I got the most absolute fright of my life. While trying to sleep I heard this rushing sound come out of the bushes towards my tent and something bashed into the side of it before belting off. I almost shat myself. This was a primal fear that flooded my body. What the hell could that have been I thought?! After just staying calm and letting the adrenaline subside I had to laugh at what just happened. Must have been some kinda of duiker or something. I guess I’ll never know but I will never forget how that thing shocked the hell outta me. Damn.

Like a ninja. (you need to relearn the defnition of ninja Jones)

Distance 55kms