Grootbos

In Afrikaans it means “big bush” and it is a private nature reserve. It is located about 2 hours by car from Cape Town and overlooks Walker Bay near the town of Gansbaai. If you have ever seen pictures of a Great White shark jumping out of the water and snatching a seal out of mid-air... it was probably taken near here. It is in a fabulous setting and we couldn’t have enjoyed our stay there more. Here’s what it looks like:

Here’s what a sunset looks like from it:

The resort provides a variety of daily activities including nature tours of the beach and the surrounding hills. They also provide three absolutely exquisite meals per day. The lodging was duly impressive… two bedrooms split above a bar/dining/living area with a fireplace, all wrapped in glass with a view overlooking the bay.

Here’s a view from the outside looking in:


It’s the type of place that you wouldn’t mind spending the entire time in your room, but we opted for several of the offered activities. Our first outing was a wildlife spotting (with emphasis on whales) boat trip from the harbor at Kleinbaai to Dyer Island and back. This is the sort of thing that is right up Susan’s alley but it seems that every time we went to a location frequented by whales, we were always there at the wrong time.

We caught the Western Cape just at the beginning of the whale season and the trip on the water was certainly fruitful. We not only got a good, close up look at a pair of Southern Right whales, but we also got to have a look at a Great White shark, about 50,000 Cape fur seals, and some homeless African “Jackass” penguins. The added treat on the ride back to shore was a breaching Humpback whale.

We took a driving tour of the reserve and a coastal whale-watching ride that included a hike into one of the caves used by the early inhabitants and a visit to the guide’s township. The boys continue to amaze me with their willingness to do these sorts of things and it is readily apparent that they are actually enjoying most of it. They do have their limits though, but they also are demonstrating a great deal of tolerance. As a means of maintaining some semblance of balance, we continue to try to include generous doses of the things that middle schoolers really enjoy… like internet time, video games and TV in English.

We have found South Africa to be a beautiful and immensely interesting country. We will see a bit more of it in the next few days as we are off to the Kruger National Park area in eastern South Africa and the Ngala and Malamala game reserves.