A Trip through the Garden Route

0:00Today we're speaking all about the garden root. This is a 300 kilometer scenic coastal stretch along South Africa, South-Eastern coast, running along the Entru highway, renowned for its lush forest lakes and beaches, beautiful landscapes, charming towns and diverse wildlife. And joining us on the line this morning is Kothar, coordinator of optimum travel and tours based in Cape Town, speaks to us today about taking a trip along the garden root. Kothar, Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu, and JazakAllah khair, and for taking out your time and joining us on Radio Islam. O alaykum, wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu, and to the viewers of Radio Islam, Shukran for having me online today, inshaAllah. So Kothar, can you begin by telling us, you know, the span of the garden root, how to get there, what is the ideal point to start at if you travel in from Johannesburg?

1:03So inshaAllah, the span of the garden root basically extends from storm, river East London, and goes all the way down to Masal Bay, or detouring through Utswerding, Beta-Nones, Route 62. So inshaAllah, from the point of Johannesburg, I think, Port Elizabeth would mean that that would be the starting point, and therefore moving through Jifri's Bay to Tatsikamah National Park, storms, river, blowcrons, bridge, your plate in the bay, Nasna, wilderness, George, and then obviously at the Indian Gulf in Masal Bay or Utswerding, and that's basically the regional span of the garden root. That would be the best time of the year to take this trip, whether wise, and also how many days would you advise setting aside for a person that would like to experience or travel on the garden root? So you know, in case of all due to our scenic nature and our summers being so fresh and

2:07nashful gardens and for amazing weather, the packed full invoices that could be planned with appropriatenity could possibly last for two to seven days on average, and keep in mind that you could be based in one position or one particular point, and then do two or three days in each city, only due to the fact that it's so much to do in that entire region over a specific school holiday season, or like even when it's in our winter time as well, it's not a bad option because there's so many things to do indoors as well, but it's more the fact that living in your country and knowing that you can feel like you're in another country, and it's only because it's that amazing and that beautiful Masala Alhamdulillah. It certainly is a beautiful place, it certainly is a beautiful root to explore and to visit.

3:11Now it's such a, like you had mentioned earlier, it stretches quite a big distance where would you suggest, or could you suggest an itinerary with the key places to stop it, where would it be ideal to spend the night and to spend some time on that root? The best place is to stop it, and I think being central is one important thing. You know, it depends on also the family size that you're taking with, where there's just a couple going, then you could obviously hop from place to place, doing two nights at one place, one night in another place, alternatively if you are on the side where you have a bit of a bigger family, then maybe centralizing yourself like in a nice, or a wilderness, or a sage field, and then moving from that particular place and going to various different towns from there, because I mean it's about our listen to our drive from each of those places, but if we look at an itinerary

4:13particularly, right, they so much to do, and all those things is going like to the Edo Elephant National Park, or the Blokron Bridge, or the Citicama National Park where there's actually caravan sides with these chalets, etc. These nature's value, these prittings, we're pilleting, but very much, nice neighborhoods, and there's so much places to kind of base yourself, and then move all the way around from there, and it's just based on what the family wants, if you want adventure, if you want tranquility, if you want scenic, if you want mountain terrains, these all that options, Alhamdulillah, in that particular region, are South Africa. And, as you know, South Africans, wherever they travel, wherever they visit, one of the first things on the list is the type of food that they would be available, whether it's local or international. So when traveling on the garden route, does a person need to carry their own

5:19food, their own podcast along, or are they halal restaurants, or eating places along the route? So of course, it's natural for us all to pack our podcast, you know, like what's the road trip for that podcast, let's be real, right? But in the same breath, given the situation, along the garden route, there are a lot of like garage stops, your totals, etc, that you could get. So if you're based in a city like George, right, it's a bit more populated with Muslims, there's the mosque, there's a lot more halal options, and I'm just going to touch based on one or two, like you'll have your Mumbai Cafe, your boss, boss fellows, you've got Burger King, you've got Zainab's Kitchen, Mealers Delights, Asma's Kitchen as well, Fusion Foods, Nandos, which personally my capacity is one of the best Nandos in the entire Eastern Cape. So I look forward when I am going that way, just to stop at the Nandos, I don't know, the services is the best, and the

6:22I don't know, it's just a taste different, I don't know, maybe it's the Ely, I don't know, but this George, so in every major city, the Ely is like Muscle Bay, you'll find halal spots, Outswinning has also so much halal spots as well, you've got your saffron spoon, your you've got your Zamsam catered is, so along the route, they are, but it's more on the fast food side, so obviously we are accustomed to, if we're going for a long period, we want to pack our meat, we want to pack in all of those options, so getting a place that's obviously self-creating or a Airbnb that you know has that facilities, obviously it's a lot better to take that worth if we're traveling with families, but obviously if you are opting more for the hotel option, the world in a hotel is fully halal and catered for our people particularly. And then for adventure lovers, what activities can be undertaken on the garden route?

7:24Wow, we all know that the adventure is packed all the way there, and I always say it's an out of city, but in town experience, because you've got your sharp cage diving in Muscle Bay, you've got your titsukama ziplining, you've got one in wilderness as well, that that's the zipline that runs across the ocean, which is absolutely amazing, you've got your bungee jumping at the blowcrans, you've got your sandboarding as well, you've got you being in the storm's river, you've got kayaking in the Cayman's river as well, which is between wilderness and sagefield or nizene particularly, you've got your farthest tours on your quiet bikes, waterboarding, water skiing, that's in nizene as well, and then chieftains, but it's obviously the town for surfing, so there is so much to do indoor and outdoor, and it's just it's one of those trips that is amenity once in your lifetime at least. And finally, can you share with us some hidden gems, perhaps, that are off, you know,

8:30the route, or you've got to just go a bit off the road, that very few people probably would know about, or do the people of the Cape keep it a secret. So personally, it's no longer a gym now, because I'm not expressing it, because this is my personal favorite, but this is, this town is called sagefield, so it's known as the sultan, I mean, the slow town, it's between wilderness and nizene. Basically, if you're wanting the option of going to the beaches less than 15 minutes away, but if you want to be in the mountains, in the terrains of what, so behind all that, it's just mountains and trees all around you, it's not far from Pine Nacresort, and the town itself, things are done very slow, it's very old, it's very, it's very bustly, it's very so much to do within that vicinity, but more so, it's just the tranquility of just listening, looking out, seeing if sometimes it's a drizzle or whatever, and it's just a completely different experience,

9:33and it really makes you feel like you in Bali or in Malaysia, or you know, you're getting that lashingness of forest all around you, and it actually extends all the way to Otenikwa Pass, and that's just something else, it's something everyone should experience, because it really gives you a sense of tranquility, but that's my personal hidden gem, and yeah, I hope your listeners will definitely get to experience at some point in jalla. Sh. Allah. Sh. Allah, thank you so much for joining us, thank you so much for sharing with us insights into the garden route, and the cape as well, it's certainly a place that we should all try to visit, put it on your bucket list, there's so much to explore in that region. Indeed, indeed. Sh. Allah, thank you for having me online, and we'll be based in Shallah, that's all the listeners, and to your soft mode in that. Sh. Allah, you do Islam, alaikum, alaikum, alaikum, alaikum, alaikum, alaikum, alaikum,