Two nights in Knysna

Two nights of backpacking accommodation was enough for my travel buddy and I was duly informed that in Knysna we’d be relocating from skuzzy backpackers to something a little more upmarket.

Well, ‘a little upmarket’ is a bit of an understatement: we actually stayed in The Tonquani Lodge and Spa (Wellbedacht Lane, Knysna). Tucked away in a beautiful wooded area this lodge was nothing short of spectacular. Each room was in fact a chalet complete with personal swimming pool and braai area, kitchen, plasma screen TV, two fantastic double rooms…oh and a bottle of complementary port (Yum!)

On our first day in Knysna we headed out to the Featherbed Nature Reserve. Once again we were the youngest members of the tour (average age 60+). It was a lovely couple of hours though with fantastic views over Knysna and the Knysna Heads (where the river meets the Indian Ocean). That evening we had a lazy evening in with pizza, port and a DVD.

After booking the obligatory spa treatments, our next day was spent at Plettenberg Bay. Thinking it would be a quaint, picturesque little bay we arrived utterly unprepared for what we came across. The school year was most definitely over! Draped across the sands of this uber modern bay – complete with tower block hotel – were hundreds of 16/17 year olds each showing off their pre-university to-die-for bods in skimpy bikinis and designer board shorts. This was the playground of the sons and daughters of the rich and famous: the girls were manicured to the extreme (yep…apparently make up is the done thing at the beach), the boys were 16-year-old boys desperately trying to be men. It made for uncomfortable viewing for Amrita and I who had well over a decade on all of them. Furthermore, we had no beachwear with us and sat in our shorts on a patch of sand very much on the outskirts of the action. There we sat and watched and marveled at how simple life is to be 16 with the whole world ahead of you!

A couple of hours later and we too were manicured: I opted for a pedi whilst Amrita treated herself to a massage. On our way back to the lodge we’d also picked up food so, rather than clubbing it up with the nubile young things, us nanas opted for bubbles and a braai on our very own braai in front of our very own small-but-perfectly-formed private swimming pool.