South Africa’s Adventure Capital
One of the most popular areas in South Africa, also known as the Rainbow Nation is the country’s Garden Route, which stretches for hundreds of miles along the southwestern coastline. The area is vast, with many picturesque cities along the highway.
Knysna and its central location on this part of the Indian Ocean coast serves its well. The drive from Cape Town to Knysna takes about five hours in total, although you could stretch that out even longer if you linger in some of the other towns along the way.
Knysna itself is a naturalist’s paradise, with an extensive lagoon/estuary system that attracts bird watchers the world over. Visitors to this part of the country have an abundance of outdoor activities from which to choose, including hang gliding, bungee jumping, boating and more.
Knysna Elephant Park
This wonderful experience brings visitors close enough to actually touch wild elephants. Daily tours depart every 30 minutes, and you’re taken to an area where you can feed the elephants, who are fairly wary of humans.
After that, guides take small groups of a few people each to interact with one of the elephants. It takes months or years for the elephants to accept and trust the guides, and you’re instructed exactly where to stand and what you can do, so as not to spook the animals.
The park tries to rescue and rehabilitate the animals and re-introduce them to the wild. The goal isn’t to keep them there forever. There are also breakfast picnic walks available as well as group packages, wedding options and even a lodge for “elephant sleep-overs.”
Whale Watching
Ocean Odyssey charters run a number of eco-tours in the estuary and ocean waters all around Knysna. Try the whale watching close encounter tour, which generally runs 90 minutes to two hours in length.
Their crews are fantastic and very knowledgeable about the local wildlife. They usually spot a breaching humpback whale, which can wow the entire boat for up to 15 minutes if you are lucky. You may also get to see other wildlife like a Bryde’s whale, different species of dolphins, Cape fur seals and even penguins.
Beach Walk
Spend a few hours with Mark Dixon of AMD Odyssey Tours, Dixon is one of those people who seems to know endless amounts of information about every part of the natural world, from marine life to geology to fossils. But he’s so genuinely excited to share his knowledge that it never comes across as lecturing—learning and teaching is just his passion.
Dixon has degrees in animal husbandry and livestock science, as well as a masters in ichthyology and fishery science. He has done research in Antarctica as a scientific observer and in the Pantanal on jaguars. Throw in eight years of avifaunal research on wind farms and a citizen science study on ghost fishing and you see what a busy guy he’s been.
AMD, which started in 2004, has three tour lengths as well as a moonlight meander, a night-time tour. It also does itineraries for multi-day tours, from two days up to 10 days. One itinerary starts in Cape Town and participants do 10 hikes in total. There is also a five-day coastal trail, which is the Garden Route coastal trail from Wilderness through to Brenton on Sea. There’s also a lot of birdwatching to be done in this part of the world, so AMD has a lake bird tour.
If that’s not enough, the company also offers snorkeling, stand up paddle boarding, photographic walking tours, forest walks and biking excursions.
So are you ready for a trip of a lifetime to South Africa, if so take a look at our South African offerings.
