Garden Route includes one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline, the starting point is constantly contested as towns such as Witsand, Stilbaai and Albertinia join the route which winds the road for some 200 km via George, Wilderness, Sedgefield and Knysna on to Plettenberg Bay peaked at Tstisikamma Forest - a fairyland of giant tree ferns and bird life.
An important geological feature is the Cango Caves, a series of caves and natural space dug out of limestone, situated outside the town of Oudtshoorn. Cango Caves among the ten most-visited attractions of South Africa. Oudtshoorn itself, the heart of the ostrich feather industry when in its hey day the late 1800s and early 1900s, is worth a visit. The, stately old feather palaces are still to be seen, while ostrich farms, now involved in commercial production of meat, skins, eggs and feathers, can be toured, with the possibility of an ostrich ride.
Ten nature reserves embrace the varied ecosystems of the region as well as unique marine reserves, home to soft coral reefs, dolphins, seals and a host of other marine life. Various bays along the Garden Route are nurseries to the endangered Southern Right Whale which come there to calve in the winter and spring (July-December).
