THE GARDEN ROUTE
Visitors are drawn year-round to this diverse area. In winter its whale-watching outlooks and bays which are known to be the breeding grounds of the several whales, draw visitors in their thousands.
Take the Coastal route and wander through the many small seaside villages with their magnificent seaviews, rock pools well-stocked with teeming sea life, from sea anemones an every colour imaginable to sea urchins, exotic shells and small octopi, crabs and fish. All along this coast, the sea is alive with dolphins, and whales in the winter and spring months. Hermanus has become the hub of the whale-watching crowd and employs a whale-crier to point out the best vantage points in the town. The town has a host of wonderful guest houses offering superb accomodation, and it is a great place to stay for a few days and take in all the sights and activities of this area Or wander inland to Caledon for the flowers, or Swellendam for the fairies. In a quiet street in Swellendam, cocooned behind a woven branch door and under Zimbabwe creepers, is the Sulina Faerie Sanctuary. It's a wonder world where fairy folk peek out from under shrubs and signs read "Please don't pick the flowers - fairies could be sleeping in them." Cape l'Aghulhas the southernmost tip of Africa where a reef goes far out to sea and after storms, one can find the most amazing shells. Struis Bay is also haven to a growing fishing industry, while some of the oldest and most historic farms are also to be found in this area, rich in fynbos and birdlife. St Sebastian Bay on the Cape South Coast is by far the most important n It is probable that this may be the largest assemblage of Right Whale cow-half pairs in the world, with the possible exception of the Peninsula Valdes region of Argentina. Aerial surveys starting back in 1969 marked St Sebastian Bay as the most important nursery, and seemed to have formed the last stronghold of the species off the African coast. As the whale population increased the calving whales spread out from this bay to De Hoop and other areas of the Southern Cape Coast. Witsand is a beautiful small village that lies on St Sebastian Bay. The locals have a great love for the magnificent creatures that visit them every year and are especially proud of the whale calves. (Courtesy Peter B Best of the Mammal Research Unit and the Whale Unit of the South African Museum in Cape Town). Highlights of the Garden Route include the Wilderness coastal stretch, the whale watchers paradise of Hermanus, Knysna's lagoon and forest-based activities, as well as Plettenberg Bay, a location that combines some of South Africa's best swimming beaches with beautiful forest and indigenous vegetation. On the south east coast, this beautiful bay is surrounded by nature reserves and is home to coral reefs and various marine life.. Near Plettenberg Bay is the unspoilt Tsitsikamma National Park, where dense indigenous forests inhabited by a small herd of indigenous elephants and a very large tree, are punctuated by streams and tumbling waterfalls flowing towards the coast. The Garden Route is ideal for watersports and outdoor activities, and the region’s Mediterranean Maritime climate is ideal for these activities. Another must to view is the hidden castles of Noetzie and Nature's Valley where holiday homes are hidden amongst the milkwood trees.
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ursery area for 
bordered by extensive lagoons that run behind a barrier of sand dunes and superb white beaches. The region has some of the largest patches of indigenous forest in the country - giant yellowwood trees and wildflowers - as well as commercial plantations of eucalyptus and pine.