With its unbeatable mix of charming holiday towns, golden beaches and beguiling forests, the Garden Route is the perfect family-friendly destination. Richard Holmes found a few ways to keep the whole gang happy on a local holiday.
You can’t leave Knysna without spending a morning, or more, out on the idyllic lagoon. The Featherbed Company is the best outfit in town, with a range of boats and activities. A lunchtime cruise on South Africa's only paddle-driven vessel is a relaxed way to see the lagoon, or else opt for the Three Legs catamaran, which takes you right between the famed Knysna Heads.
Untouched Adventures offers superb activities in the Tsitsikamma National Park, and their kayak/lilo adventure into the Storms River is the best of the bunch. You’ll paddle over open ocean (if it’s calm) and then upriver to enjoy a morning of swimming, floating and cliff jumping. For something more relaxed, Eden Adventures’ canoe trail on the lazy Touw River near Wilderness is a more sedate option.
Stock up your holiday house pantry at some of the wonderful farmers’ markets along the Garden Route. The Wild Oats Community Farmers’ Market outside Sedgefield is the best in the region, with a wide range of fresh goodies from local farmers and producers. Also worth a visit are the Harkerville Market, in the forests between Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, and the Outeniqua Farmers’ Market outside George. All run on Saturday mornings.
The towering indigenous forests surrounding Knysna offer a wonderful day out for families. The walk to Jubilee Creek is suitable for all ages, starting and ending at a charming riverside picnic spot. The Millwood mine walk takes you back in history to the heady days of the area’s short-lived gold rush, while the woods around the Diepwalle forest station offer longer trails up to nine kilometres. Also don’t miss the Big Tree at the King Edward VII picnic site: a 650-year-old Outeniqua Yellowwood towers 40 metres above the forest floor!
Tales of wild elephants in the Knysna forests have long been part of the lore of the Garden Route, but you can meet a real Loxodonta Africana at the Knysna Elephant Park. Daily tours allow you to interact with and feed the elephants that wander in the park’s grassy fields, with elephant rides and sundowner walks on offer too.
Tsitsikamma Canopy Tours offers a unique perspective on the Garden Route’s incredible forests, with a treetop adventure that takes you zip-lining through the boughs between platforms fixed up to 30 metres above the forest floor. The well-informed guides bring the forest to life with their knowledge of the fauna and flora you’ll be spotting at high speed.
Rainy days on a family holiday can spell disaster, but if the clouds roll in simply bundle the kids into the car and head for the hills; over the scenic Outeniqua Pass and through Oudtshoorn. An easy drive beyond town you’ll find the incredible Cango Caves. Both Heritage (all ages) and Adventure (over six years) tours are offered, showcasing the remarkable subterranean caverns and stone formations.
Birds of Eden and Monkeyland, between Plettenberg Bay and Nature’s Valley, are huge sanctuaries for free-ranging birds and primates. Birds of Eden boasts one of the largest free-flight aviaries in the world, with a remarkable two-hectare dome above an indigenous forest that’s home to over 220 species of birds, including 60 species of parrots. Adjoining Monkeyland offers free entry to the viewing deck, with optional guided tours through the forest.
Head for the high seas with Ocean Blue Adventures. Tours leave from Central Beach in Plettenberg Bay and head out to sea in search of marine wildlife, before passing by Robberg Peninsula. In summertime large pods of bottlenose and common dolphins visit the warm waters offshore, while in winter both southern right and humpback whales can be spotted.
If the big people are itching to play a few rounds on a world-class golf course, head to the Fancourt estate for an all-round family experience.
This 600-hectare estate — three times the size of Monaco — offers plenty of space for kids to roam in safety. There are tennis courts, mountain bikes for rent and walking trails to explore. A handful of dams on the estate are stocked with bass, with rods and tackle available for hire.
Younger children can spend their days at the Fancourt Kidz Club, which caters for children aged three to 10, while a Teen Lounge keeps older ones entertained. In school holidays a jam-packed schedule of activities is offered, from baking with the chefs to nature hunts on the estate. At any time of year kids over the age of seven can learn how to swing at the swanky Golf Academy.
Your Sure Travel agent can offer you great rates for Fancourt, and several other hotels along the Garden Route. Or ask him/her to help plan your entire trip, or for other family holiday specials this Easter.
