Knysna’s cannabis club, and a local’s guide to the Garden Route.

Mossel Bay2George3Wilderness3Sedgefield3Knysna7Plettenberg Bay3Tsitsikamma3

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  ViewsMossel Bay

  St Blaize Trail

  A clifftop path west from the lighthouse, with the Indian Ocean on one side the whole way. Dolphins most days, whales in season.

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  Rainy dayMossel Bay

  Pinnacle Point caves

  Sea caves where people were living, cooking shellfish and making tools well over a hundred thousand years ago. A guided visit, and a humbling one.

  Guided only, so book ahead.

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  ViewsGeorge

  Montagu Pass

  The old gravel road over the Outeniquas, built by hand in the 1840s and hardly changed since. Fynbos, stone walls and the coast dropping away behind you.

  Slowly, and with a sober driver. Always.

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  WaterGeorge

  Victoria Bay

  A tiny cove with a row of cottages, a tidal pool and one of the most reliable right-hand waves on the coast. Small enough to feel like a secret.

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  Rainy dayGeorge

  The transport museum

  A shed full of steam locomotives and old carriages. Sounds dull, is not. The right answer to a wet Tuesday.

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  ViewsWilderness

  Map of Africa

  From the hilltop above the village, the Kaaimans River bends itself into the shape of the continent. Turn around and you have the whole coastline as well.

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  ForestWilderness

  Half-collared Kingfisher Trail

  Boardwalk through riverine forest, a pontoon you pull yourself across on, and a waterfall at the end with a pool cold enough to wake you up.

  Give it half a day. Swim at the top.

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  WaterWilderness

  Canoe the Touw River

  Tea-coloured water, overhanging trees and no current to speak of. You paddle until the river gets too narrow, then you walk the rest.

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  Markets & foodSedgefield

  Wild Oats on a Saturday

  The farmers’ market the whole coast drives to. Breakfast under the trees, real bread, growers who will talk your ear off about soil. Our kind of people.

  Saturday mornings only. Early is better.

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  WaterSedgefield

  Gericke’s Point at low tide

  A fossil dune running out into the sea, with rock pools you could lose an afternoon in. Starfish, anemones, octopus if you are patient.

  Check a tide table first. This one only works at low.

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  Big day outSedgefield

  Go paragliding

  The dunes between Sedgefield and Wilderness are some of the best tandem paragliding in the country. Twenty quiet minutes above the lakes and the surf.

  One to do with a clear head.

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  ViewsKnysna

  The Heads at golden hour

  Two sandstone cliffs with the whole lagoon pouring out between them. Drive up to the Eastern Head viewpoint about an hour before sunset and just stand there.

  Windy up top, even in summer. Take the jersey.

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  ForestKnysna

  The big tree at Diepwalle

  An Outeniqua yellowwood that was already old when the first ships came past. The forest around it is the real thing: ferns, moss, loeries calling, and very little signal.

  Go on a misty morning. The forest is better wet.

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  ForestKnysna

  Jubilee Creek

  A short, flat walk along a stream into the old Millwood gold diggings, ending at a pool under the trees. The gentlest way into the deep forest.

  Pack lunch and stay longer than you planned.

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  WaterKnysna

  The lagoon by paddle

  Flat water, a rising tide and a kayak or a paddleboard. The lagoon looks completely different from the middle of it, and the town goes quiet behind you.

  Mornings, before the wind gets up.

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  Markets & foodKnysna

  Oysters on the water

  Knysna is the oyster town. Sit down at the waterfront or on Thesen Island, ask for a dozen, and argue about wild versus cultivated like everybody else does.

  Midwinter is Oyster Festival season. Busy, loud and worth it.

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  ViewsKnysna

  Noetzie and its castles

  A steep walk down to a wild beach with stone castles built right on the sand. Nobody can quite explain them, which is most of the charm.

  It is a proper climb back up. Take water.

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  WaterKnysna

  Buffalo Bay

  A long curve of beach west of town with a forgiving wave. This is where half the Garden Route learned to surf, and where the other half goes to watch.

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  Big day outPlettenberg Bay

  Robberg

  A peninsula hike with a seal colony below you, a dune to run down and a beach in the middle. The best half-day walk on the Garden Route. We will fight about it.

  Start early and carry more water than seems sensible.

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  WaterPlettenberg Bay

  Up the Keurbooms River

  Paddle upstream into a forested gorge until the houses stop and the kingfishers start. Sandy banks to pull up on along the way.

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  Rainy dayPlettenberg Bay

  Birds of Eden

  An enormous free-flight aviary over a forested valley at The Crags. You walk the boardwalks and the birds get on with it around you.

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  ViewsTsitsikamma

  Storms River Mouth

  Suspension bridges strung across a river mouth where the forest runs straight into the sea. A short walk from the car, and it still feels like the edge of the world.

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  WaterTsitsikamma

  Nature’s Valley

  A lagoon, a long empty beach and a village with one of everything, at the bottom of a forest pass. Where the Otter Trail hikers come out blinking.

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  Big day outTsitsikamma

  Bloukrans Bridge

  216 metres of air under the highest commercial bridge bungee in the world. You can also just walk out under the arch and watch other people do it.

  Another one for a clear head.