Having toured the islands of Thailand, I know what magical beaches look like. Today I want to share with you another equally exotic and exhilarating beach here on the southernmost shores of Africa, in a magical realm called the Garden Route. This little stretch of beach is called Keurbooms strand (strand means beach locally) and it is named after the local indigenous tree called the Keurboom (boom means tree) which grows in this region.
This particular stretch of beach is right at the end of Keurbooms strand, on the outskirts of the beautiful holiday town of Plettenebrg Bay, which you can easily find on a map. It is possible to park your car at the end of the road at the sea shore right next to Enrico’s restaurant, which is the most awesome Italian dining place run by an Italian couple who emigrated here many years ago. They make the best pizzas and other real Italian cuisine which will add to your holiday pleasure at this particular beach.
Once you pass by Enrico’s restaurant. And head east on foot, you will come to the most idyllic hidden little beach imaginable. The vegetation suddenly appears dense and lush as it covers the surrounding hillside. This vegetation is to be found all along the coastline from here onward to the east, all the way up Africa, yet it starts right here, at this particular beach. Here you enter a different world, an unchanged indigenous African forest-like atmosphere that hugs the shoreline on this stretch of the continent. A little river runs out to the sea at this point, one of several along this shoreline as you head further east.
The combination of lush vegetation, along with the rocky outcrops dotted all along the beach really give this particular stretch of shoreline that totally exotic ambiance that you might also find in a place like Thailand. It truly looks like so much like a little remote island paradise that the television miniseries called Robinson Crusoe was filled on location here a few years ago. In other word the setting could be anywhere in the world, with it’s untrammeled authentic island style appearance.
I personally love this particular stretch of beach, so I’m sharing with you today a favorite paradise hideaway because I want you all to also be able to come and explore this uplifting environment. Paradise is available for all of us. A magnanimous person want to share their found treasures with humanity, rather than hide them for themselves. You can’t steal this treasure since it is nothing more than the actual landscape provided by nature, so it’s free for everyone to share. Such is the bountiful feeling experienced when on this little beach.
Once you cross the little stream that runs out to sea on the further end of the beach, you can walk along the shore until you come to some epic geological rock features, one of which is called Arch Rock or Cathedral Rock due to its appearance. It’s a massive tall naturally formed rock formation about four floors high which forms a giant arch through which the tide washes waves of the Indian Ocean and through which you can stroll when the tide is low enough. It is perhaps the pre-eminent feature of this stretch of beach called Keurbooms.
Even more curious is the little circular hole in the rock right at the top of the arch itself, which looks just like a window that you might find in a cathedral, for example. The symmetry and harmony of this spontaneously weathered rock formation is just so curious and unique. It really looks like it has been planned and carved to appear balanced and neat in its positioning of that little hole above the arch. It never ceases to amaze and inspire me whenever I visit it.
Once you pass the Arch Rock and continue east along the shoreline, the setting becomes even more exotic as you leave the primary white sandy beach and continue along the rocky pebbled coast into the actual dense vegetation and over more rocky terrain. It’s possible to walk for several more kilometers of African shoreline – if you have shoes on – and continue to discover still more remote little beaches with rocky little islands sticking up out of the sea very close to the shore. The terrain becomes more rugged and fascinating for an explorer.
This really is a favorite place and a best kept secret which I’m sharing with you today. I’m keen to have you come and visit so that you can also partake in this awesome natural beauty along this stretch of the southern African shoreline. If you love travel, and love exploring new magical unknown natural places, then this is one for you. Perhaps only a few fortunate people will be able to access this free gift, so make of it what you will. I personally will continue to roam this very inspiring stretch of shoreline all year long since the climate facilitates it and there are few more attractive places that are so easily within reach on the entire planet.
(photos my own)