Those of you who are familiar with Hermanus may recognise the spliced-together photo above.

There’s nothing really special about the photos, other than the fact that they’re pretty much devoid of people, and that’s not something the Daily Beast’s travel editor, William O’Connor, is used to.

In his article from the weekend, titled “The Most Surprising Thing About South Africa’s Garden Route”, he cannot believe that one of South Africa’s premier tourist attractions is so quiet – in the month of February, nogal:

I’ve long extolled the virtues of destinations sans crowds, and here I was in the iconic seaside town of Hermanus, about to kick off a drive along South Africa’s Garden Route. And as my best friend and I wandered empty street after empty street, we wondered aloud if we’d arrived in the aftermath of a purge.

After all, it was only February (still summertime) and given how beautiful everything was, we had braced for crowds.

To be honest—while I sympathized with hotel and restaurant owners along the route—it was a rare joy to be somewhere scenic and designed for travelers that was, well, without people.

He was a fan of Hermanus, and he was really a fan of not having to battle the crowds to enjoy it:

Hermanus itself is the South African equivalent of a charming coastal New England town, complete with a historic central village and a huge sandy beach with cottages and houses that could fill the pages of an architectural magazine’s summer issue. While the beach itself had a handful of people at it, the town was empty.

When I say empty I don’t mean that it had a tolerable amount of tourists—I mean that on some of the cutest main streets lined with colorful historic buildings, we saw… nobody.

It was a phenomenon that would become a trend—a surreal experience for two travelers used to having to fend, finagle, and fight for peace and space at beautiful places around the world.

Suddenly, knowing we’d be able to experience our trip without competition, we did something that I always find hard to do—we slowed down.

At this point, I would like to advise the Vaalies to listen closely. You don’t all need to come to Cape Town in December.

O’Connor then moved on from Hermanus and headed up the Garden Route, where he found much of the same:

After Hermanus came Knysna, roughly a 4-hour drive away. My best friend’s sole request for the trip had been that we stop in De Hoop Nature Preserve, famous for its untouched shoreline of massive dunes. So after fueling up at Tredici in Swellendam (one of many cute towns en route) we hooked down to the reserve, fully expecting that this photo-friendly spot would be teeming with tourists.

We saw two people…

Despite our desire to linger, we had to get to Knysna, a spectacularly located town in a bay which opens onto a narrow strait cutting between two towering cliffs, populated with mansions of varying tastes…we marveled yet again that if these beaches were in the Mediterranean or Gulf of Mexico, there’d be hundreds of people every hour lined up to take pictures and videos at the ochre-colored rock pools.

From there it was Plett (“other visitors were barely noticeable”), and then back to Cape Town to bookend the trip:

Even back in Cape Town, I never felt crowded or pressed anywhere. And so while other destinations around the world find themselves drowning in tourists, to the extent that a visit is unpleasant, it would appear that South Africa very much remains a place one can escape the crowds.

A reminder that he was here in February, and clearly has no idea what December and January are like in the Mother City.

Still, there’s a lot to be said for avoiding the mad months when picking your preferred destination. I always tell overseas friends who are keen to visit to come in April, where possible.

Less silly season, and more time to do what we do best in Cape Town – relax, and cancel on those plans to meet up for a drink.

[source:dailybeast]