Planning your own trip to South Africa? Read more about my Garden Route itinerary here.

After my thrill-inducing morning cage diving with Great White Sharks in Gansbaai, it’s time to drive to my next destination. Swellendam is only an hour and a half away.

This is the first time on the trip where I cut inland to drive through farms instead of following the coast. I expected to breeze through the drive but today’s views are deceptively intoxicating and I pull over often for photos.

Right away I’m struck by these picture-perfect blue skies, puffy white clouds, and rolling green hills. It reminds me of the iconic Microsoft default desktop photo Bliss, snapped by photographer Charles O’Rear in Napa Valley back in 1996 (here is a neat interview where he talks about the history of that photo). This is the image I’m referencing, which will likely be immediately familiar:

Cattle off in the distance:

Ominous clouds hang heavy in the sky by the time I get halfway to Swellendam.

I can’t get over how dark the sky is. Again, I find this landscape intoxicating.

I’ve already shared the story of how I found my next accommodation, but I’ll repeat it here:

After staying in hostels thus far, I decide to try something new in Swellendam — I scope out bed and breakfasts. This comes about because when I show up at Swellendam Backpackers, I find out they don’t have dorm beds anymore so I’ll have to splurge on a private room (around $25). But that room is not attached to the main structure, so to use the bathroom I’ll have to walk outside… and it’s raining. An inside room is $35 which is about three times as expensive as a typical dorm room bed in South Africa. This is enough of a deterrent that I begin calling nearby bed & breakfasts, asking if they have a room for the night and what’s their best price for a single female traveler who doesn’t need breakfast? I get a bite right away — the kind owners of Impangale Guest House offer to let me stay in their Giraffe Room for $25 (this is cheaper than their normal rate because it’s last-minute). It’s an unorthodox way to book accommodation but since I’m traveling in the off-season, it works.

Isn’t this place cute?

And I have my own private bathroom… which I don’t have to venture outside in the rain to use!

I dig all of the giraffe-inspired details. The owners put so much effort into their B&B.

Speaking of B&B, guess what’s playing when I turn on the TV in my room? The Bold and the Beautiful! This is such a trip — I happen to turn it on at the very end of the episode and they show the exterior of CBS Television City (where I worked for 7+ years) and I’m launched into a real-life flashback. How weird to be on another continent and turn on the TV to see the entrance where you walked into work every day for the better part of a decade?

Above the TV is a shelf of books and DVDs — there are other bookcases in common areas too, and I find the short story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. My old co-worker Tracy (“TD to the Daytime Stars” as he occasionally introduces himself) used to quote this book, so I make a point to read it while I’m here. It’s a short fable about a seagull who learns about life while testing the limits of bird society. He gets bored with daily ritual — low-level flying and eating — and decides to fly as fast and as high as possible, even though it’s against the rules. This brings him enormous happiness but gets him banned from the seagull community. As an outcast, he teaches other banned birds to reach their potential despite pressure to conform to the masses. It’s a reminder to us all that in order to do your best work, sometimes you have to leave the flock.

I happen to be the only person staying here tonight, so the guesthouse owners kindly offer to show me the other rooms — this is the Zebra Room:

And this is the Leopard Room:

And the Leopard bathroom:

Main hallway with more books to peruse:

Dining area:

Lovely outdoor patio:

The owners put together a very useful binder in each room with info about restaurants in town, as well as personal recommendations of their favorite haunts. I decide to check out Koornlands in the center of town, very close by. I order a glass of red, a filet of beef, fries, and a salad. It’s perfection.

After checking out the next morning, I get a latte and carrot cake (how’s that for breakfast?) at a small coffee shop in the center of town.

I might have done more exploring in Swellendam if the weather had been better, but honestly, I’ve had a few busy days kicking off this Garden Route trip and it was so relaxing to chill out for the night and have an easy morning.

Next up: a drive to Oudtshoorn with fun roadside attractions.