South
Africa - Day 14
Wednesday 4th February 2026
Participants: Kev & Tam
Up at 8.30 am for breakfast and to decide what we'll do today. We book the Keurbooms Ferry boat tour for 2.00 pm. Unfortunately it's overcast and drizzly, but there's not much we can do about that.
A quick trip to the supermarket for some beer and I drive to the Knysna Heads. What should be a spectacular view is less spectacular than it should be due to the mist and drizzle. It's enough to show us what amazing views there must be on a fine day, so we hope to return before we leave in 2 days.
On our way back from the heads we pass the Bosun's Arms which was recommended in the information pack in our accommodation. We stop to look and decide it would be nice for tonight as it's much more of a pub than a restaurant and will make a nice change from the more upmarket dining we've had to date.
We drive back through Knysna and out the other side to Brenton, but don't really have any time to look around, still it's a nice enough drive.
Back to our accommodation for a lunch of cheese and tomato roll with cheesy Nik Naks. Classy. At 1.00 pm we drive to Keurbooms Ferries where we board the boat for the tour. We're the only ones onboard and the lady tells us that they are just going to wait until 2.00 pm as another party has said they might make it. At 2.00 pm we pull away from the jetty just as a car pulls up and a guy jumps out and says something to the lady on the shore who calls across and asks us if we would mind waiting another 10 minutes as the rest of the group is going to arrive shortly. We can hardly say 'no' so our driver/guide (Mikey) takes us up the river a little way to pass the time.
Eventually 6 people (mostly Brits with a couple of South Africans) clamber onboard and we leave at 2.20 pm. They have obviously been enjoying a boozy lunch as they pretty much treat it as a private charter, speading themselves out all over the boat and chatting non-stop the whole way. They are not horrible people, just totally unaware of the way their behaviour is affecting us. It is supposed to be a 3 hour nature tour enjoying the bird song and the peace and quiet of the river. We certainly don't get much peace and quiet. Mikey tries to tell us a lot of information as we slowly make our way up the river and we eventually stop at a spot where you can get off the boat and swim if you want to. Tam and I grab the opportunity to find some relatively quiet time and wander around and paddle in the lovely warm water.
Back on the boat the return journey is a little better, but not much. We just have not been lucky with our boat tours this holiday. This could have been a lovely trip, but it's been spoiled by the incessant chatter of our fellow passengers. They weren't even interesting!
We get off the boat at 5.00 pm and drive back to the apartment to shower and head straight out to the Bosun's Arms.
These guys were wandering around in front of our accommodation. Guinea Fowl I believe.
We can walk along the pathway beside the
lagoon to get there and luckily it isn't raining although still
overcast. It's very much a pub type eatery and although we'd
booked a table inside we decide to eat on the deck as it's the
first time since we've been in South Africa that it actually
feels quite hot and humid with no breeze this evening.
We have a beer first and share some chicken wings before both
having the Beef and Guinness Pie along with a bottle of Pinotage.
The food is nice although Tam finds her pie a bit salty. We both
have a Macchiato to finish.Total bill with a 15% tip is 1000
rand, about £45.
We get an Uber back and have a beer with our feet dangling in the pool before bed just after 10.00 pm.
