Overnight in Agulhas National Park
Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:23 pm
as as a last minute idea while in cape town in december i decided to see if there was any vacant accommodation at agulhas national park.
i managed to find a night available in the rhenosterkop cottage at a cost of R660 for the night (the cottages on the coastline cost R980 p/n).
one has to travel through the fishing/retirement village of struisbaai which becomes a hectic holiday destination in december-january for many students and up-country families.
"pelicans" is a very popular watering hole in the harbour and it certainly never resulted in a "pelican" for me
as there were a large number of nubiles in skimpy swimwear causing my "teeth to hang" (terms plagiarised from bushcraft)
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the exact origins of the name of struisbaai, however, is a subject of debate.
the various historical stories uncover 3 different origins for the name of the town.
the first being accredited to the thatch or straw (strooi in afrikaans) roofs of the fisherman cottages scattered along the coast.
another is the ostriches ("struisvogel" in dutch) that used to call this area their home,
while others believe the name was derived from an old dutch word meaning "huge" given due to the long stretches of beach.
the last origin seems more plausible as struisbaai holds the longest beach in the southern hemisphere which stretches for a total of 14 kilometres.
this home owner has his own definition.
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after passing through struisbaai you head towards the end of the settlement of L'Agulhas and towards cape agulhas
named by the portuguese and meaning "cape of the needles" which is the geographic southern tip of africa.
just before the lighthouse is the sanparks office where one books in and collects the keys.
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i was attended to by a very friendly and attractive young afrikaans lady who explained all i needed to know about the location and working of my lodgings for the night.
as one can see on the map rhenosterkop is about 20 km from the office
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and is situated in amongst the elim conebush and and other types of fynbos.
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i have no idea what this tree is but there are more of them around the cottages.
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the road to the cottages....
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the cottages have been declared as national monuments.
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cottages 2 and 3 are two sleepers
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and cottage 1 is the family cottage.
i stayed in cottage 2
which has a secluded braai area under those amazing trees surrounded by hundreds of little white flowers.
here are some images of the interior.
the hot water system works perfectly with the gas heating system.
this must be one of the biggest showers i have ever used.
there are a few small lakes dotted around the park
and a large salt pan.
in the vicinity of rhenosterkop i came across this buzzard (steppe or forest or maybe even jackal)
he showed me exactly what he thought of my interest in him.
i followed the red arrows and landed up on a road that led around the salt pan
and came out opposite bosheuwel
there is no road map available with any of the secondary roads and no signboards either.
when i spoke with the lady at reception in this regard she did not quite understand what i was explaining to her regarding the yellow boards with the red arrows.
there are a number of precincts and projects in the park.
after returning my keys i took a short drive to the southern tip of africa.
on the way back to bredarsdorp is this information sign which taught me new word that i now use all the time......
I wondered where you had disappeared to... 
Any wildlife around?
