The Garden Route is one of the most beautiful scenic stretches of South Africa’s coastline from Mossel Bay in the Western Cape to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The Garden Route meanders along the coast and up through numerous mountain passes to incorporate a variety of landscapes, all of which are mind blowing in their grandeur and beauty. The region is one of dramatic contrasts and stirring vistas with quaint towns dotting the coastal drive.

The Garden Route’s main towns are George, Wilderness, Sedgefield, Knysna, Oudtshoorn and Plettenberg Bay with the spectacular indigenous Tstisikama Forest beyond. The Outeniqua and coastal Tsitsikamma National Park are really wild with thick temperate forests endowed with unique Cape fynbos and coastal and wetland habitats. They are known especially for hiking trails and forest-drives, canopy walks  and all sorts of adventures from swimming, boating and fishing.

George, dubbed ‘The Gateway to the Garden Route’, occupies a site on the coastal plateau in a fertile verdant area at the foot of the Outeniqua Mountains. This is in contrast to Oudtshoorn, just over the mountains in a semi-arid valley, which is the ideal habitat for ostriches, who are farmed here in their thousands. In a dramatic display of how the landscape was formed, the geological phenomenon of the Cango Caves reveals limestone caverns near Oudtshoorn, that are exceptionally beautiful.

The Outeniqua Mountains form a protective barrier between the dry interior where Oudtshoorn is siuated and the lush Indian Ocean coastal belt. The lower portion of the Garden Route enjoys an agreeable maritime climate with mild warm summers and winters; the mildest climate in South Africa. It tends to rain when it wants to, not fitting completely into a summer or winter rainfall pattern.  Ten nature and marine reserves encompass varied ecosystems, whose habitats support soft corals and sea mammals like seals, dolphins and gentle giants of this coastline, southern right whales.  

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