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Western Province - Knysna |  |
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On the seaboard of the Western Cape's Garden Route. This handsome coastal town is renowned for its forest-fringed lagoon, an ice-blue, 17-kilometre long inlet whose entrance is guarded by two massive cliffs known as The Heads. Knysna, a fashionable resort and residential centre that has developed quickly in recent years, is also known for a variety of rather special products - honey, cheese, ham, the local draught ale, the oysters that thrive in the lagoon, and the furniture made from the local hardwoods. The trees - yellowwoods, stinkwoods, ironwoods and many others - are part of South Africa's largest remaining expanse of indigenous high forest - they stretch for miles, and hide the remnants of the country's first gold mine. Knysna lagoon The inlet is something of a zoological wonder, home to a myriad fish, crabs, birds, ‘pansy shells', oysters of course, and to a tiny sea-horse (Hippocampus capensis) that is found nowhere else. Its waters are popular among yachstmen, owners of cabin-cruisers (these can be hired), anglers and watersport enthusiasts; its banks draw ramblers and bird-watchers. The John Benn pleasure-craft takes visitors on sightseeing voyages. There are splendid views from each of the Heads; the eastern one hosts the private Featherbed nature reserve, which offers gourmet meals in its restaurant and some lovely short walks across the headland. The reserve is accessible only by ferry. Steam-train excursions One of the world's few remaining narrow-guage lines runs between Knysna and the town of George, a scenically quite beautiful route that winds through Wilderness and its ‘lake district' (there are seven major fresh waterbodies strung out along the coast), over the magnificent Kaaimans River estuary bridge and inland through rich forest-and-pasture countryside. The locomotive is a steam-driven Class 24 veteran - still a working train, carrying freight - which puffs its way between the two centres twice a day.
Angling museum Housed in the old Goal - an unusual display , and the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere; exhibits are devoted to the art of fly-fishing; history of angling; tackle and equipment. Church of the Holy Trinity, Belvidere estate. On the lagoon's banks west of town: a perfect replica in miniature of a 12th century English (Norman) church. Its nave is less that 6 metres from side to side; of note is the stained-glass rose window, made from shattered glass from the London ‘blitz' of the 1940s. The estate also hosts a fine Georgian colonial mansion, now a residential lodge. Knysna forests The 36,500-hectare exanse of dense foreest country has been divided into various sections, including the popular Diepwalle. Fern-fringed walks and hikes, among them the six-hour Elephant trail that leads you past King Edward Vll's Tree, a massive yellowwood, have been laid out beneath the dense, deep-green canopy. For motorists, an especially enchanting route is the Knysna Country Road.Millwood Some of the country's earliest gold miners dug for wealth in the heart of the Goudveld forest 32 kilometres from Knysna. They called it Millwood (it was also a timber-producing area), and at the height of the rush the camp supported hotels, trading stores and saloons. Today there's little enough to see (apart from a tunnel, though there's a scheme to restore the old Bendigo mine) but a largish, rather attractive house, built at the diggings in 1886, has been restored and reassembled in Knysna to serve as a museum. Next door are historic Parkes Cottage (which also started life on the goldfields) and Parkes Shop (featuring the timber industry). Goukamma nature reserve A lovely, unspoilt expanse of coastal fynbos countryside between Knysna and Wilderness, enclosing the lower reaches of the Goukamma River and its estuary (venue for boating and canoeing) and about 35 kilometres of pathways. Wildlife residents include antelope (among them the once-endangered bontebok) and a splendid array of birds. Beaches There are numerous sandy stretches to either side of Knysna. Favourite holiday spots include the coastal village of Sedgefield, and Buffels Bay, whose long and lovely beach nudges residential Brenton-on-Sea at its eastern end.
George and Mossel Bay lie to the west, Plettenberg Bay to east. |
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KNYSNA Western Cape
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