The long easter weekend gave us a good excuse to drive all the way to the beach town of Wilderness on the Garden Route. With winter closing in it was a bit too chilly to lounge at the beach but perfect for hiking. We had been to Wilderness before but never went hiking in the area so we ended up with 3 easy but diverse hikes though different eco systems.

• Day 1: Stroll around the lagoon on the sandy Cape Dune Mole Rat trail. We didn't come across any live Cape Dune Mole Rat but plenty of shore birds, a king fischer with a fish too big to swallow, a huge tortoise, a tiny tortoise, and lots of mole hills big enough to sink a hiker. Most of the Cape Dune Mole Rat population seems to live right unterneath the sandy trails.
• Day 2: Fynbos and burned pine plantations at the Quteniqua nature reserve. The highlight of this trail was a long stretch along a semi-abandoned rail line, hobo style.
• Day 3: Giant Kingfischer trail through dense coastal forest. Most of the trail follows a river along raised boadwalks. This trail is the most family friendly of the three and on this Easter Monday it turned out a bit more busy than we had expected. Unfortately, I didn't take my camera along for this one so you'll have to take my word for it.