Port Elizabeth – Eco-Tourism and Adventure Destination
Why Port Elizabeth is South Africa’s premier Eco-Tourism and Adventure Activities destination
Go west for the magnificent Garden Route, east for the paradise Sunshine Coast, or inland for superb Game viewing…
Port Elizabeth is both the Capital City of South Africa’s beautiful Sunshine Coast and the eastern ‘Doorway’ to the beautiful Garden Route. As such, PE is central to any experience of the best the Eastern Cape Coast can offer the nature lover – and that’s a great deal! The coastal areas on either side of Port Elizabeth are beautiful, wild and still pristine in many places, and there are many coastal reserve areas. Go inland, and you will find some of the best game viewing on offer in South Africa. If you are interested in a hunting package for your trip, you may as well visit riflescopereviewsguide.com to get all the equipment you need.
Fun in the Garden Route
The Garden Route runs from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape to Mossel Bay in the Western Cape and includes the towns of Jeffrey’s Bay, St Francis, Uitenhage, Stormsriver, Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and George. The Garden Route encompasses nothing short of superb natural protected areas such as the Baviaanskloof, the Tsitsikamma National Park and the recently proclaimed Garden Route National Park. All of these areas offer a wealth of outdoor and adventure activities, as well as a few unique and world famous activities and destinations such as the highest commercial bungy jump in the world at Bloukrans Bridge, just before Stormsriver, and the Otter Trail (for which you need to book a year in advance) in the Tsitsikamma. The Garden Route is one of South Africa’s adventure activity hotspots – and everything is within an easy few hours’ drive from Port Elizabeth – on one road.
Fly into Cape Town for the Cape Winelands – but fly into Port Elizabeth if you have fun and adventure in mind along one of the most beautiful coastlines in Africa, if not the world! From surfing and sand-boarding in Jeffrey’s Bay to forest canopy slides, black water rafting and bungy jumping in Stormsriver just before Plettenberg Bay, to cage diving with Great White sharks in Mossel Bay, it’s all right ‘right down the N2’ from PE.
The Sunshine Coast
The Sunshine Coast ‘overlaps’ with the Garden Route to St Francis Bay, but the greater part of it stretches east to the Wild Coast. The Sunshine Coast is so called as it has the highest number of sunshine days per year across South Africa. It also boasts some of South Africa’s best beaches, distinct from the also beautiful Garden Route beaches by the predominant and in places enormous sand dunes. The sunshine coast is sand-boarding country! The wide and pristine beaches run for hundreds of kilometers to the border with Kwa-Zulu Natal and offer perfect swimming in warm water, sand-boarding, surfing, sailing, watersports, diving and beach horse-riding – from within Port Elizabeth’s city limits all the way through the quaint coastal towns such as Port Alfred to the city of East London and beyond on the Wild Coast (formerly known as the Transkei.) The entire coastline is dotted with river mouths wrapped in thick coastal bush, most of them reserves, where you can enjoy camping and canoe and hiking trails. Notable areas along the sunshine coast include the coastal stretch of the Addo National Park, the huge Sundays River Mouth Dunes, the massive Alexandria Dune Field and Woody Cape.
Inland – Malaria Free Game Viewing
Barely an hour’s drive from Port Elizabeth, the world famous Addo Elephant Park offers unsurpassable encounters with Africa’s magnificent giants. Other famous Game Reserves a short distance from Port Elizabeth include the private 5 star game lodge reserves of Shamwari, Pumba and Lalibela. Or see Game Reserves in Port Elizabeth.
Hire a Car and Drive your way to scenic beauty and adventure…see our Day Trips.