🇿🇦 Cape Town → Montagu: Starting Our Second Loop
After Victoria Falls, we return to South Africa. This time, we head for Cape Town. We collect another Sixt rental car and immediately drive east.
The goal is to break up the journey before Addo. We choose Montagu.
At first, it is purely a practical stop: one night to avoid an overly long day behind the wheel. But Montagu turns out to be a very pleasant surprise. The scenery has completely changed. After the north-east and the bush, we discover drier mountain landscapes, a different atmosphere and the scenery of the Klein Karoo. Our hotel is another pleasant surprise.
The next morning, we get back on the road towards Addo. The closer we get, the more excited we become. Kruger has already given us some incredible wildlife encounters, but one animal is still missing from our Big Five list: the lion.
We do not yet know that Addo is about to solve that problem in spectacular fashion.
What we remember: Montagu was never meant to be an emotional highlight. That is one of the things we love about road trips — a stop chosen simply to break up a drive can turn into a genuinely memorable surprise.
Montagu: gateway to the Klein Karoo
Montagu lies on Route 62, around two hours from Cape Town, at the transition between the wine valleys and the Klein Karoo. The town is known for its hot springs, orchards, wines and mountains. Even if you stay for only one night, the change of scenery from Cape Town is striking.
Cogmanskloof: the road is part of the experience
The approach to Montagu passes through the spectacular Cogmanskloof. The first properly passable road through this gorge was built by engineer Thomas Bain and completed in 1877. The small historic tunnel was dug at a time when dynamite was still difficult to obtain, using black powder among other methods. It is a good example of a journey where the road itself becomes part of the experience.
