Langkloof Route 62 is in many ways more interesting than its more famous cousin to the south, the Garden Route. Heading west from Humansdorp along a winding, reasonably well-maintained road to Prince Alfred Pass, the Langkloof section is only part of the Route 62 road that goes all the way to Cape Town.
Langkloof Route 62 is in many ways more interesting than its more famous cousin to the south, the Garden Route. Heading west from Humansdorp along a winding, reasonably well-maintained road to Prince Alfred Pass, the Langkloof section is only part of the Route 62 road that goes all the way to Cape Town.
The Garden Route is world renowned and deserves to be mentioned in any tourism brochure in about this country – but then so does the Langkloof Route, which runs more or less parallel to it. Setting off on our camping holiday, my family and I decided to stop off in Kareedouw, a dorpie along the route where residents could certainly teach Grahamstonians a thing or two about being hospitable to visitors.
All the locals we met at the Sweaty Dutchman Coffee Shop and Bistro, where we had coffee on the way there, and Die Plaaswerf, where we had coffee on the way back, were friendly and happy to chat with us about anything and everything. We left the main road at Joubertina and took a twisty 28km route to our final destination at Kouga Wildernis, where our hosts Nico "Rooibaard" and Melodie Ferreira showed us to our campsite on their apricot farm.
The site is extremely civilised with a fantastic shower, flushing toilets and a spacious lapa with a fridge and a freezer. So we were camping – we did sleep in tents – but it was really comfortable. However, the show-stopper at the site is a gorgeous swimming pool fed with icy cold, fresh water from a mountain stream. There are no chemicals, so the bottom is covered in dark slimy plant life – but the frogs and crabs don’t seem to mind. It is the perfect balance of an outdoor natural pool combined with enough space for having fun.
Those in our party with more energy than they knew what to do with regularly went hiking up and over the mountains. Many of the hiking routes went along river beds carved out among the mountains, so that on one particularly tough walk, my friends had to cross a stream 27 times until they eventually made it to a cycad forest.
If ever you are looking a great place to camp where there is thankfully no cellphone reception, email the Ferreiras at kougawild@telkomsa.net
