Garden Route Trail
The Garden Route Trail is a five-day, 60 km, portered hike and canoe trip from Wilderness Nature Reserve to Featherbed Reserve in Knysna - and back on the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe.
Although there's a section of tar along the N2 in Wilderness, the rest is along the beach and through cool milkwood forests. Second day, a 19 km beach walk, is the longest.
Kingfisher Trails
There are in fact three kingfisher walks in the wetlands around Wilderness, each named after a species you might expect to see. The Half-collared Kingfisher Trail, a 7 km there-and-back stroll along boardwalks within the indigenous milkwood forest along the Touws River, is the most popular.
The 10 km Pied Kingfisher Trail starts at the Ebb and Flow SANParks camp site and heads to the beach before looping back. The 5 km Brown-hooded Kingfisher Trail meanders between Island Lake and Langvlei, along the Duiwe River and a tributary, then back the same way. There's no better way to explore the broody backwaters of these fabled lakes, except maybe by messing about in a rowboat.
The coastal town of Wilderness is an idyllic Western Cape destination along South Africa’s Garden Route. It is a firm favourite among loca...