I actually visited the Harold Porter Botanic Garden before I went to Betty’s Bay to see the penguins, but I was so excited about the penguins that I accidentally wrote that blog post first. Sorry, I didn’t write this in proper chronological order, but all these sights are in very close proximity to each other anyways.

I visited the Harold Porter Botanic Garden completely by chance. I drove by from Cape Agulhas to Cape Town and I saw the signs outside. I hadn’t visited a Botanical Garden in South Africa yet, so I thought it would be interesting to visit one. Little did I know the beauty it would hold inside. Apparently it contains around 1,600 plant species, this means that the floral diversity per unit area is greater than anywhere else in the world. You can also find a lot of fynbos here and most importantly, there are some beautiful waterfalls and amber water pools.

When you enter the park you pay an entrance fee, so I thought it would be super safe and protected, until I saw this sign at the start of the path:

If I’m on any kind of hiking path, I know I will probably slip and fall so from the first few sentences I understood that I will definitely fall on this path, but the last sentence worried me. The whole hike up the mountain I was pictured that I would come face-to-face with a baboon. I like monkeys, but in my mind’s eye I saw a crazy, angry, annoyed baboon. What would I do in that situation without a guide? Luckily my fear of the baboons didn’t come true (as they usually don’t). However, I did slip and slide all over the place; but at my own pace I managed to reach the top.

Even if I had to climb a very scary ladder up some areas…

It was all worth it though, because the waterfalls and amber pools were gorgeous! There isn’t just one waterfall. You can find one at almost every level.

Have you ever seen beautiful amber water like in the photos below?

And this is what you see when you’ve almost reached the top. I think I walked all the way to the end, but I’m not sure (my navigational skills without a map aren’t the best).

Conclusion

The Harold Porter Botanical Garden is another great place for a stop along the Garden Route. I’ve already given you so many, so if you only have three days for this road like I did you really have to make choices. In other seasons I would’ve maybe done a shark dive or watched the whales in Hermanus. Unfortunately, on a short trip you don’t have time for everything.

This post wraps up my South Africa trip. It was such a great experience and I have done so many new things on this trip (swimming with penguins, caving, bungee jumping). The itinerary was perfect for a three-week trip.  I will definitely come back to South Africa for more one day.