I ♥ Wilderness because ...

Hi, I’m John McIldowie from Porcupine Pie Lodge in Wilderness in the Garden Route.
WILDERNESS IS BEST KNOW FOR its long golden beach, extens­ive lakes, water­ways and lush indi­gen­ous forests. That com­bined with cas­ual con­tin­ental side­walk res­taur­ants and a vil­lage atmo­sphere makes Wilderness the ideal base from which to enjoy the Garden Route.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Dolphin Point with the spec­tac­u­lar Wilderness Bay and kilo­metres of beach as a back­drop.
THE BEST PARAGLIDING PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN from the Map of Africa view­point.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD I LIKE TO get out and enjoy hik­ing along one of the numer­ous trails through indi­gen­ous forests or along the beach and cliffs that make up the coast line to the east of Wilderness. Or force myself to have 18 holes on one of the 14 chal­len­ging cham­pi­on­ship golf courses situ­ated within easy driv­ing dis­tance along the Garden Route ...

WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD I LIKE TO meander through the numer­ous gal­ler­ies and arte­fact shops –my favour­ite is The Pharaoh Gallery where the inter­na­tion­ally renowned artist, Peter Pharaoh, dis­plays his latest ori­gin­als.

I THINK THE BEST TIME TO VISIT IS towards the end of sum­mer – April, May and June. It is a time of the year when winter is bit­ing in the Highveld and the driv­ing rains have arrived in Cape Town. But in Wilderness the days are still lovely low to mid twen­ties and the nights cool to cold – at worst for­cing us to open a bottle of red and light the big log fire.

FOR BRUNCH OR LUNCH, I SUGGEST Pomodoro Restaurant, a viby Italian option with a large out­door sec­tion. One of the two own­ers, Werner or Claudio are always in attend­ance and they offer great pas­tas, piz­zas as well as a vari­ety of meat & fish dishes.

MY FAVOURITE RESTAURANT IS The Girls, try the Beef Fillet with Chocolate Chilli sauce, The Prawns or even the great selec­tion of cur­ries. Roxanne & Cheri offer superb food, per­sonal ser­vice and they have a mezzan­ine craft sec­tion for you to per­use while your meal is being pre­pared
BEST LATE NIGHT SNACK FROM Monks where every night is a party night and Des or Bridget don’t close until the last guest is sat­is­fied.
IF YOU WANT TO MEET LOCALS, GO TO Joplins Pub & Steak Grill where the beers are always chilled, the wine is reas­on­ably priced and Rose’s well matured juicy steaks are to die for.

WILDERNESS'S BEST KEPT SECRET IS the winter. People think beach and sea when they think Wilderness, but not only are winter days here gen­er­ally warm and dry (we do not share Cape Town’s winter rain­fall) but many of the Wilderness activ­it­ies such as whale watch­ing, hik­ing, moun­tain bik­ing and golf­ing are ideally suited to our cooler winter temperatures.

MY FAVOURITE THING TO DO WITH FRIENDS IS to pack a pic­nic hamper with a cold bottle of wine and head down to the water­fall at the end of the Kingfisher Trail – beau­ti­ful rock pools and the water­fall mak­ing a per­fect set­ting for a relax­ing after­noon with friends. And if that is not on then a ride into the foot­hills of the Outeniqua Mountains on one of Perdepoorts well trained horses where Amanda will usu­ally point out vari­ous buck (deer), baboons and birds as she gives both novices and exper­i­enced riders an exhil­ar­at­ing experience.

IF YOU'RE FEELING ADVENTUROUS, TRY a day of Kloofing (canyon­ing) with Eden Adventures. There are chal­len­ging kloofs in the vicin­ity which ensure a mix of scram­bling, climb­ing, swim­ming, plunging, jump­ing, bumslid­ing & abseil­ing – not for the feint hearted!
MY FAVOURITE DRIVE IS over the Montague Pass towards Oudtshoorn with a stop at Herold Winery to enjoy some of the award win­ing wine they are producing.

MY FAVOURITE GIFT SHOP IS The Heart Shop in the Milkwood Centre. Tanya & Jacques design and man­u­fac­ture their own range of cos­tume jew­ellery which is very unusual but very wear­able. They also have a range of stones and crys­tals which people come around the globe to purchase.

TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN? A FUN OUTING IS rent­ing a canoe from Eden Adventures and pad­dling the water­ways and lakes. Or if they feel like a ride on one of the top ten steam trains in the world then jump on the Outeniqua Choo Choo and head on down to Mossel Bay for lunch.
BEST CHEAP AND CHEERFUL OUTING IS a visit to one of the numer­ous mar­kets in the area. Wilderness hosts two Sunday morn­ing craft mar­kets every month, Timberlake Village and Milkwood Centre both hold Friday even­ing mar­kets and the Wild Oats Market in Sedgefield is renowned for their superb fresh produce.

FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL, I LIKE TO take Judy to din­ner at Serendipity. It is a 5 star res­taur­ant offer­ing a 4 course set menu (each course offers 2 or 3 choices) with well known inter­na­tional dishes each given a South African Flavour by Lizel, the award win­ning chef. Lizel’s hus­band Rudolph is Maitre “d and a won­der­ful racon­teur – who also has an excel­lent know­ledge of the wines on offer.

I ♥ Wilderness because it bears no pre­tence. I spent many years in many cit­ies where the decid­ing factors were the car you drove, the whisky you drank or the label on the clothes you were wear­ing. To arrive in Wilderness and be judged solely on who you are an abso­lute privilege.

Porcupine Pie Boutique Lodge

Hike through the Cape Fynbos, pic­nic at the river or cool off in a moun­tain pool. Dine under the stars before lux­uri­at­ing in a bath flooded with moon­light. All this without step­ping off the Porcupine Pie private estate. Porcupine Pie is a cus­tom built get­away. It is spe­cific­ally designed to offer couples of all ages a retreat away from the hustle and bustle of city life. The lodge is situ­ated on a hill high above the val­ley and enjoys breath­tak­ing views of the Outeniqua Mountain ...

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Desirable Digits

Porcupine Pie Boutique Lodge +27 (0)83 447‑6901
Pharoah Gallery +27(0)44 877‑0265
Pomodoro Restaurant +27 (0)44 877‑1403
The Girls res­taur­ant +27 (0)44 877‑1648
Monks +27 (0)44 877‑1072
Joplins Pub & Steak Grill +27 (0)73 347‑8896
Eden Adventures +27 (0)44 877‑0179 or +27 (0)83 628‑8547
Herold Winery +27 (0)72 833‑8223
Serendipity +27 (0)44 877‑0433

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