Taylored Trips – Camping trips Leopard Trail Camp Site - SwellendamIf camping is your thing and you prefer the more casual, rustic type of bush camp then Leopard Trail between Ashton and Swellendam is your answer. When we went there I was quite surprise

d to see how many people were there considering it was just a normal weekend and the weather wasn’t that good either. The camp is a lovely bush camp tucked away in the far corner of a farm with no electricity and very rustic ablutions with a donkey for hot water. Very pleasant. There are some serious

4x4 trails as well.

Leopard Trail camp site

Mountain Mill – Worcester Mall - WorcesterOn the way home you can pop in at the Mountain Mill Mall in Worcest

er for lunch.

Ocean Basket

There is another very nice pub/restaurant called Dam Diner & Bar. It is perched out on a deck over the Worcester dam which looks like an excellent alternative to a sit-down restaurant if you want a

more party/pub atmosphere. Montagu Guano CavesAbout 10kms outside Montague, on the R62 travelling towards Barrydale is Montagu Guano Caves. This farm is probably the most multi-faceted, diverse, fruit salad farm that we have come across and it is paradise for a family getaway. They have camping, two types,

the first being a general terraced camp site near a multiple pool area with varying degrees of temperature, the second being a more private option of about 7 or 8 sites each with their own ablutions on the shores of a dam.

General camp site Private camp site

There are also chalets, cottages and tented camps. At the main complex is a restaurant, a shop and a pool

with super-tube slides and a big grass (astro turf) area with umbrellas. There are camels, horses, lamas, alpacas, goats, ducks, fish, hamsters, rabbits and chinchillas. Around every corner is something new or another surprise and I haven’t even got to the two-hour tractor ride up to the

guano caves in the Langeberg mountains.

Main complex area

Guano cave express

The cave trip starts off with a video presentation and it tells you all about the caves which were

found in 1881 if my failing memory serves me correctly. The main cave at the entrance is thought to have been inhabited more than 20 000 years ago. Archaeologists have discovered so many prehistoric tools here that they think it must have been a tool factory. They are still digging here and will return

next year when they hope to get to the bottom of the cave. They are still digging into what they call the “living surface” which means they are finding traces of inhabitants. A stair way to bat heaven leads you up into the cave to where the bats are and you can only just make them out high up in the cave

when the guide shines his torch up onto the roof of the cave.

Cave entrance in middle of picture Stairway to bat heaven

Archaeologist diggings Bat heaven

The guide told us that naturally the early inhabitants were Khoi and San (there are bushman

paintings at the entrance to the main cave) but that deeper back in the cave, beyond the point where we went, there are signs of other inhabitants and that they think it could be Indian.Immediately my mind went back to our trip to the Moordenaars Karoo with Dr. Cyril Hromnik (see Moordenaars

Karoo dated 31 January 2015 on www.tayloredtrips.wordpress.com. [you will have to scroll down quite far to find this one but it will be worth it if you haven’t read it yet {or if you have forgotten what it was about}]). These must have been the Quena people that we learned so much about on that memorable trip.

So if you have kids and you want to get away from it all, Montagu Guano Caves is the place. If you don’t have kids then the private camping or during the week would be better options.Groot Vadersbosch Groot Vadersbosch, originally called Melkhoutskraal, is a nature reserve falling under

the Cape Nature banner and is adjacent to Boosmansbos Wilderness area. Roelof Oelofse was assigned the land in 1723 and he was known as the Groot Vader. You can find this small, intimate nature reserve between Heidelberg (Cape) and Swellendam. They have various self-catering units and a

camp site with 10 sites overlooking the forest. There are two fenced-off private camp sites elsewhere in the reserve. There are two hiking trails and lots of MTB trails. Look out for the ghost frog and a unique forest emperor butterfly found only in this forest.

Groot Vadersbosch camp site

Beautiful specimens of the endangered North American Redwood tree are found here.

They were planted around 1907 together with many other exotic species to cover areas de-forested by woodcutters.

Redwood pictures courtesy of Edgar

Getting to Groot Vadersbosch from the

Cape Town area provides you with two options. 1) the N2 or 2) the R62. Because we went to Guano Caves on the way there means we took the R62 which has the added bonus of travelling through the pumpkin capital of Barrydale and the beautifully sculptures Tradouw Pass. I must admit we used

the R62 going there and back.

Die Windpomp Restaurant – Barrydale Tradouw Pass

Be sure to stop at the Drupkelder in Tradouw Pass just for fun.

Drupkelder - Tradouw Pass

At the foot of the Tradouw Pass is the historic mission village of Zuurbraak tucked away in the folds of

the Langeberg mountains. It was established in 1812. This little town is so special that they call it Xairu meaning “A place called paradise”.

Zuurbraak

At the northern end of the Tradouw Pass, just before the town of Barrydale, there is a sign that I am not

even going to comment on because I could end up in deep trouble. I will leave it up to your own imagination.

Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”