South Africa, here we come! We planned on spending Christmas camping and trekking along the coast, 600 kilometers away from Cape Town in Nature’s Valley, a beautiful National Park on the East coast. We got the motor bike in order and embarked on this beautiful journey across mountains, desert, ostreiches, incredible beaches prehistoric caves and a few shantis.

Afrique du Sud, on arrive! Nous avions planifie de passe les Fetes en randonnee le long de la cote, a environ 600 kilometres de Cape Town, dans un Parc National appele Nature’s Valley. Une fois la motocyclette en ordre, nous nous sommes aventures au travers de belles montagnes, de paturages parfois desertiques, de fermes d’autruches, de plages incroyables, de cavernes prehistoriques et des shantis.

Never far from the sea, we kept going to and away from it until we reached our destination.

Nous avons suivi l’ocean de pres tout le long de notre voyage, ce qui nous a garde au frais et meme trempe jusqu’aux os.

Around here the ocean starts feeling warmer than in Cape Town. The Ocean Indian starts mixing with the Atlantic Ocean.

C’est ici que le marriage des Oceans Indien et Atlantique se fait, rechauffant les plages d’Afrique.

This is where we spent Chrismas Day. It was a National Park at the oceans edge. The weather was absolutely beautiful.

We attending a large family style buffet dinner at the restaurant. There were 11 platters of all kinds of meat and 4 bowls of vegtables. South Africans like their meat.

Later in the day we lolled around in the grass and watched the kids swim. It was great to hear their shrieking voices and the surge of the waves.

We also hiked back into the woods a ways. The paths were covered over in vegetation. Some of the paths went up narrow inlets and their were boardwalks and stairs in the steep places.

This is Nature’s Valley beach front! A real paradise. This is where Christmas Eve took place for us. Seated on a grassy lot, we assisted to a midnight mass under the stars. These wonderful places are now open to “Blacks” where as before they were White's only little heavens.

Voici donc notre lieu de destination. C’est ici que nous avons passe la veille de Noel ou nous avons eu droit a une messe de minuit en plein air! Ces endroits me font penser a tous ces pauvres gens qui aujourd’hui peuvent jouir de ces beautes et profiter des belles plages autrefois reservees aux Blancs seulement.

Nature’s Valley offre plusieurs randonnees pedestres. L’une d’entre elles suit la migration des phoques alors qu’une autre vous permet de contempler une forest d’Aloes, des Baboons, cavernes prehistoriques etc…

We have encountered an amazing prehistoric cave while trekking around. It was amazing to stumble into such a far past without having to pay an entry fee or look at everything through a glass window. The floor was filled with flints and shells of another time. Great thrill.