Garden Route National Park

The new Garden Route National park includes the formerly separate national parks of Wilderness andTsitsikamma, the Knysna Lakes area and other land under Sanparks management, as well as about 52 500 hectares of newly proclaimed land. As parks go, it has a lot going for it: the largest continuous forest in the country, a range of mountains on one side and the sea on the other, lagoons, estuaries, lakes, a marine reserve and a sophisticated infrastructure catering for tourists.

Its diverse biomes include the Knysna estuary, the Wilderness lake areas, lowland fynbos and mountain catchment areas. After the Cape Peninsula and Kruger Park, it’s the third most preferred tourist destination in South Africa. Within the park, new chalets and camping decks are being planned. The area already has a wide range of tourist attractions. It’s also an adventurer’s paradise, with a choice of many mountain biking, hiking, horseriding and canoe trails, superb snorkelling, whale watching, diving and fishing, plus a range of more extreme activities such as abseiling, bungi jumping, kloofing, skydiving and paragliding.

The Garden Route Park is one of the most complex proclaimed wilderness areas in South Africa, with more than 1 000 private landowners on its borders, all of whom are expected to do their bit to conserve the area’s natural heritage.