10 Great Things To Do When Next in Knysna

The Town of Knysna

When was the last time you were in Knysna? This ever pop­u­lar Garden Route town has plenty to offer. The middle of the year is when thou­sands of people des­cend on this town for the Knsyna Oyster Festival and those who've been train­ing take part in either the Knysna Forest Marathon and Knysna Cycle Tour.

But when the buzz of the Oyster Festival calms down and the tour­ists leave this town doesn't go to sleep ... it does the oppos­ite of that. Reason being because there is so much to do in and around the town of Knysna. There are plenty of fest­ivals that hap­pen each year, the Pink Loerie Mardi Gras is another favourite.

Not only is the town filled with fest­ivals but your will find a host of Things to Do in Knysna. I've taken a slice out of all the excit­ing places to visit and things to see and have round up 10 great things to do when you're next in town ... Continued

I ♥ Brenton on Sea Because ...

I ♥ Brenton on Sea

Hi, I’m Derrik from Brenton Beach House in Brenton on Sea on the Garden Route.

Brenton on Sea IS BEST KNOWN FOR its tran­quil­lity and long sandy beaches.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Castle rock or on Fishermans walk. See the best sun­sets all within a few minutes from the Brenton Beach House.

THE BEST sun­set PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN FROM the Fishermans walk.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the Brenton Blue but­ter­flies or the Fynbos flowers. Continued

I ♥ George Because ...

I ♥ George

Hi, I’m Jenny from Avocet House in George up the Garden Route.

George IS BEST KNOWN FOR its beau­ti­ful moun­tains, fam­ous golf courses and nearby beaches is the centre of the Garden Route, It has a great tem­per­ate cli­mate. Its a town that has some­thing for everyone.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Dolphin Point at Kaaimans Corner. This has a stun­ning view over the sea at Wilderness and the old Railway bridge across which the Choo choo used to run before the line was washed away by floods.

THE BEST scenic PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN FROM the Power Van, which runs on the rail­way line between George and Oudtshoorn. Wonderful views over­look­ing George and the sea to Mossel Bay. Continued

I ♥ Plettenberg Bay Because ...

I ♥ Plettenberg Bay

Hi, I’m Helen Ward from One Hanois in Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route.

Plettenberg Bay IS BEST KNOWN FOR its mag­ni­fi­cent blue flag beach, mar­ine life, out­door activ­it­ies and wild­life experiences.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the Elephant Sanctuary where you are able to inter­act with these amaz­ing gentle giants or if you are a cat lover with the chee­tah cubs at Tenikwa.

THE BEST PICTURES AND VIDEOS FOR adren­alin junkies CAN BE TAKEN AT at Storms River for those brave enough to take the plunge off the world’s highest bungy jump.

OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Robberg nature reserve from where you can enjoy the mag­ni­fi­cent views of the entire bay with the moun­tains in the dis­tance; the beach and at any of the excit­ing places to visit in and around Plettenberg Bay. Continued

I ♥ Storms River Because...

I ♥ Storms River

Hi, I’m Kitty from Serenity Retreat in Storms River on the Garden Route / Eastern Cape.

Storms River IS BEST KNOWN FOR the Tsitsikamma National Park and sus­pen­sion bridge across the river mouth, The Big Tree and our ancient indi­gen­ous forests – and the fam­ous Tsitsikamma Tree Top Tour.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT The Big Tree, Storms River Mouth and on the Tree Top Canopy Tours, the Bloukrans Bungi Jump – lots of these activ­it­ies can even offer you a DVD of your adventure.

THE BEST for­set PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT at in the Plaatbos indi­gen­ous forests and the best coastal pic­tures on the Waterfall Trail (first 3 kms of the Otter Trail) and at the Storms River Mouth. Continued

Pezula certified as a Preferred Family Destination

Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa, South Africa’s award win­ning resort on the Eastern Head of Knysna, has been cer­ti­fied as a Preferred Family Destination by Preferred Boutique, a col­lec­tion of small, lux­ury boutique hotels in a host of stun­ning loc­a­tions across the world. According to Gert Venter, GM of Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa, Preferred Family Certified hotels and resorts are des­tin­a­tions that go bey­ond family-friendly. “Each offers unique amen­it­ies, cus­tom­ised pro­grammes, and age-appropriate activ­it­ies for young guests and their grown-up trav­el­ling companions.”

Continued

The Kouga Wilderness – experience it by land or by water

Eden to Addo

I know someone who has kayaked along the Kouga River. He describes his trip as a com­plete escape from civil­isa­tion and some­thing you have to do once in a life­time. Camping on the banks of the river, which leads through isol­ated wil­der­ness the beauty of which will cap­ture your heart and enslave you to the memor­ies of what it is to be alone on a river, is now top of his list of the incred­ible get­aways he has exper­i­enced (and he's exper­i­enced a number).

The Kouga Wilderness is prob­ably best explored this way. It hasn't been described by some as 'inhos­pit­able' for noth­ing – tangled rav­ine forests, sheer rock faces that scream to be abseiled, whilst beau­ti­ful from the tran­quil, rel­at­ive safety of the river, are rather ardu­ous on foot. Continued

Condé Nast Travellers vote Pezula Spa one of the best in the World

Pezula Spa

Pezula Spa at Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa, Knysna, was named one of the top spas in the world in the Condé Nast Traveller’s annual Readers’ Spa Awards 2011, held in London last week.

The awards high­light the finest spas around the globe includ­ing the best hotel spas, spa retreats, day spas and thermal spas, based on read­ers’ votes on cri­teria includ­ing spa facil­it­ies, indi­vidual approach, ambience/design, body and facial treat­ments, amen­it­ies and products, exer­cise pro­grammes, cuisine, as well as qual­ity of ser­vice and staff. Continued

Win 3 Luxurious Nights in Knysna at Kanonkop House (closed)

WIN 3 nights at the fab­ulous 5-star graded Kanonkop House and relax into  the most spec­tac­u­lar views on the Garden Route, from ‘the best rooms in Knysna’ (latest Frommer's South Africa Travel Guide).

Kanonkop House

Magnificently set over­look­ing private indi­gen­ous forest, the fam­ous Knysna Lagoon and Heads, a feel­ing of space and serenity per­vades Kanonkop House.  The won­der­ful indi­gen­ous gar­dens and abund­ant local flora and fauna includ­ing bush buck, mon­goose, and fab­ulous bird­life are a testi­mony to the eco-friendly man­ner in which the prop­erty is man­aged. Luxuriously-appointed suites fea­ture chic designer touches and indi­vidual style with private decks from which to enjoy the breath­tak­ing views over the ever-changing estu­ary all the way to the Indian Ocean. Relaxed lux­ury and the beau­ti­ful set­ting con­spire so that guests have no option but to take a deep breath, shake off their cares and sink into the view.

The Prize

Valued at over R10 000, the prize includes:

• Accommodation for 2 people shar­ing for 3 con­sec­ut­ive nights
• Breakfast daily
• Local bever­ages
• Continued

Pezula ranked in World’s Top 20 Best Golf Resorts

Pezula has been ranked No 7 among the world's top 20 best golf resorts by the British web­site Primelocation.com, the only golf resort in Africa to be nom­in­ated. A journ­al­ist on the web­site writes: “It is hard to say why or when the first per­son cooked up the idea of meld­ing sun, golf, hol­i­day homes and hotels into a single resort... they all offer one thing – an upmar­ket hol­i­day resort feel where you can own a golf villa or apart­ment and play on a private course…to many people they offer an ideal mix of their favour­ite sport as well as a safe, often traffic-free fam­ily envir­on­ment near the sea aug­men­ted by the refine­ments of a four or five star hotel on site.” Continued

The Otter Trail in photographs

The Otter Trail

The Otter Trail is one of South Africa’s most well-known hik­ing trails, pop­u­lar with both loc­als and inter­na­tional vis­it­ors thanks to its incred­ible scenery. The trail starts at the Storms River mouth and ends at Nature’s Valley in the beau­ti­ful Tsitsikamma Nature Reserve on the Garden Route.

Our team of 5 hikers recently "did" the Otter Trail — here­with a pre­view of their exper­i­ence in pho­to­graphs. We look for­ward to bring­ing you a series of art­icles about the 41 kilo­metre, 5 day hike which changes in elev­a­tion from sea level to about 150m above.

Though only 42.5 kms long, it is not an easy trail. It is how­ever, well worth the per­sever­ance ... Continued

Pezula hosts free rugby coaching clinic for local kids

Pezula’s Field of Dreams came alive on Wednesday (17 November) as scores of local young rugby hope­fuls arrived to meet some of their rugby her­oes and attend a free hour and a half coach­ing clinic.

This was part of The JAG Foundation’s Big Boy Scooterthon (15–21 November), which saw three Provincial Super 15 Players, Nick Koster, Tiger Bax and Tim Whitehead, trav­el­ling 1000 kms from Cape Town to Pezula and back on Big Boy scoot­ers. Along the way they stopped to host four coach­ing clin­ics for pre­vi­ously dis­ad­vant­aged kids. Continued

Tenikwa — Spots and stripes

Tenikwa Wildlife

One of those dif­fi­cult to spot spe­cies in the bush is the cats, or to be more spe­cific, those ever elu­sive leo­pard and chee­tah. So pay­ing a visit to the Tenikwa Wildlife Awareness Centre, just out­side Plettenberg Bay is a priv­ilege to which I am look­ing forward.

Having been relieved of my hand­bag (one can only carry cam­eras into the enclos­ures), we embarked upon our one-hour tour at 09h30, with our two little boys in hand. The centre is open from 09h00 and tours depart every half hour to 16h30. Our first stop appeared to be the good old domestic cat, only on a far grander scale, and can weigh up to 6.5kg. Continued