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The Garden Route

A huge favorite of most visitors to South Africa is the Garden Route. Ranging over 300 Km it Combines stunning coastal scenery, wetlands, mountains, lagoons and the Little Karroo (semi desert). The diversity of plant and sea life is extraordinary and it is a place for serendipitous adventures with hundreds of places to stop, wander, stroll, shot, eat and drink. Hiking and walking as well as swimming surfing and photographic opportunities abound. The coast is dotted with excellent beaches, while inland you’ll find picturesque lagoons and lakes, rolling hills and eventually the mountains of the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma ranges that divide the verdant Garden Route from the arid Little Karoo. The Garden Route is a mix of modern golf courses, ancient forests, secluded artists' communities, retirement estates, modern malls, craft centres, mountain hideaways and beach holidays. A large number of interesting and creative people are drawn to this magnificent stretch of coastline and many of them now call it home. Over time ancient woodcutter clans, fishermen, artists, businessmen and top chefs have all found their niches along the Garden Route in the Western Cape. Oudtshoorn (the ostrich capital of the world) also calls the Garden Route home and, for those who are interested in history, both early inhabitants and elephants have been crossing the Outeniqua Mountains, from Oudtshoorn to the coast, for many centuries. Other surrounding towns well worth visiting include Calitzdorp, Sedgefield, The Wilderness, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. The Garden Route National Park which connects the existing Tsitsikamma National Park's ancient forests and wild coastline with the Wilderness National Park via a chain of lakes and preserved sections of Fynbos, is a fascinating and enchanting mix of ecosystems. This park is also famous for its secluded little bays and its year-round holiday frame-of-mind, and it's conveniently accessible from Cape Town. While you’re exploring all the nooks and crannies of the Garden Route, don't forget to cast an eye out to sea where you could see the Southern Right and Humpback Whales, Bottlenose and common dolphins and even Killer Whales that have been known to frolic close to the shore, especially near Plettenberg Bay. Whatever your pleasure is, you’ll find what you’re looking on the Garden Route… even if it’s just to lose yourself in one of the most beautiful parts of South Africa, if not the world.