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Garden Route runs up the south-eastern Cape coast, incorporating Mossel Bay, Sedgefield, George, Wilderness, Plettenberg Bay and Knysna. Aptly named, it's a veritable Eden.
AfricanMecca guests can start their journey with an arrival at Cape Town or George International Airports and experience the entire length of the Garden Route either on a self-drive or guided vehicle making multiple stops on route: Mossel Bay, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Wilderness National Park and/or Tsitsikamma National Park.
Pristine beaches, lakes, lagoons and forests combine with magnificent golf estates and cultural attractions. The Garden Route is also considered South Africa's adventure sports capital, it's a region sprinkled liberally with thrills like extreme bungee jumping, sea kayaking and treetop canopy tours.
The Garden Route National Park spans an impressive 121 000 hectares and includes the existing Wilderness and Tsitsikamma National Parks, the Knysna Lakes Area and about 52 000 hectares of newly-proclaimed land.
As one of the most important conservation areas in the country in terms of biodiversity and sheer natural beauty, it attracts large numbers of tourists, both local and from abroad.
The Knysna estuary and Wilderness lake areas alone are rated number one and six respectively; and comprise 60 500 hectares of indigenous forest - the largest continuous complex of such forest in the country; and the fynbos of the Garden Route falls within the Cape Floral Region - a global diversity hotspot.
The Garden Route National Park is so vast that it reaches across both the Eastern and Western Cape and offers tourist facilities and activities such as camping areas, chalets, hiking and mountain bike trails, forest trails, canoeing and diving, among others.
West of Swellendam and north east of Heidelberg lies a large area of wilderness known as Boosmansbos (angry man's bush), reputedly named after a hermit who lived there early in the 19th century and who scared away anyone who came close to his beehives.
The 14 000 hectare Boosmansbos Wilderness Area lies in the sprawling Langeberg Mountains and forms part of the Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve; a hiker's paradise.
Grootberg is the highest peak in Boosmansbos at 1 637 metres, and as the wilderness area has remained fairly untouched by humans, the 70 kilometres of footpaths and roads are virtually uninhabited and allows one an uninterrupted commune with nature.
The forest is what remains of an old indigenous kloof forest within Cape montane fynbos set on the slopes of Grootberg. Stinkwood, yellowwood, Cape holly, red alder and beech grow side-by-side with white alder and candlewood trees, and, if you're a tree-spotter, there is a section of mountain cypress - one of few indigenous softwoods in the country - growing on a neighboring ridge.
All the above included, the Garden Route remains as one of South Africa's most diverse, beautiful and superb visitor experiences.
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