The Garden Route is your link between Cape Town and the nature reserves of the Eastern Cape. If you want a family vacation which combines a little culture, spectacular scenery, wildlife, and the beach, there’s no better destination to choose.
Tucked between the mountains, the forest, and the sea is the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, and in it one of National Geographic’s Unique Lodges of the World. Here, you can spot southern right whale between June and December from the coast as well as on a boat, and also go cage diving with shark! Horseback riding along the beach is a little more sedate, and the reserve is also super for hiking, quad biking, and botanical 4x4 tours.
Hermanus Lagoon is nicknamed “the whale coast” and with good reason. Whale watching boat rides here are a must, and so too is canoeing off the beach.
The forests surrounding Tsala Treetop Lodge are ancient and rich in wildlife. Children over 10 can stay in their own treehouse in these enchanted forests. Monkeyland - the world’s first free roaming multi-species primate sanctuary - is only a short drive away, and has everything from gibbon to lemur.
