Karoo and the Garden Route. April 2024
6. Cango Caves
We went to the caves last November when James, Sophie and Bertie visited us. When they returned to the UK and saw Di and David (James is their eldest son) and told them about the caves they decided they wanted to see them.
It's only a 1 and a 1/2 hour drive from us so we decided to do it in a day.
We drove over the Outiniqua Pass and into the LIttle Karoo stopping in Oudtshoorn for a quick look around the C P Nel museum. We had read mixed reviews about the museum but decided we'd stop and have a look. It was the day before Good Friday and the road outside the Museum was closed as they were setting up street stalls but we managed to park in a nearby mall.
We then stopped at The Old Mill for lunch before going to the caves.
We took a longer route home following gravel roads though the Klein Karoo before returning over the Robinson Pass.
C P Nel Museum
The Museum is located in the old Boy's High School and consists of lots of rooms with a huge variety of exhibits. We spent most of the time in the Ostrich Hall (Oudtshoorn is still considered the ostrich capital of South Africa) and then had a very quick look around the other rooms which includes a synagogue. It's certainly somewhere we'd visit again when we have more time.
The Old Mill Lodge and Restaurant.
We all chose the ostrich burger for lunch - it was superb, certainly one of the best we've had. The restaurant overlooks the mill stream and gardens.
Cango Caves
These caves are very impressive with fascinating limestone formations - stalagtites, stalagmite, columns etc . We took the 1 hour Heritage Tour which was very interesting. It's difficult to get an appreciation of the size of some of the caverns and limestone formations with a photo. As it was outside of the holiday season we didn't book ahead and had no problem getting tickets.
Drive back to Reebok
Rather than re-trace our route we took some back roads through the Little Karoo and then the Robinson Pass over the Langekloof mountains.
As we approached the Robinson Pass there was low cloud hanging over the tops of the mountains.
Last updated: July 2024