I have a house in Knysna, on South Africa’s Garden Route. Well a share of a house, and for a short while anyway. Y’see my Dad passed away a few weeks back, and left it to my absent brother and I – with the unfortunate proviso in his will that we sell it.

It’s got an unobstructed view of the lagoon and the Heads, and a good chunk of indigenous forest blanketing the steep slope that makes up the back garden – all the way to the top of the hill behind. Come early morning and sunset it’s packed with birdsong.
If you’re interested, property prices in the area have been a bit depressed lately…. but if I had the option I wouldn’t be selling. To be honest, this place was my Dad’s dream – my Mom never had a say in it (she hated the wet winter lashings), and neither did we. But this association did introduce us to a place that as a student I thought never quite compared to the neighbouring beach-glam of Plettenberg Bay.

I was wrong. Knysna is, by nature’s grace, a little bit of everything that makes a destination compelling. Granted, it hasn’t got an easily accessible beach a convenient walk away, but once you’re done with the beach-romancing teenage years, for most of us the obsession tends to fade – along with the tan.

A great bonus for a destination is diversity, and this historical little town and its surroundings* have undiscovered little hideaways in spade-loads – even for South Africans. I think of the first time I came across Millwood creek, and the burst of frenzied gold-mining history that took place here.
Deep in a forested valley I found jungly paths leading to an overgrown mine-shaft. Well-marked bike trails lead out again, whether to braai (barbeque) sites or the coffee-shop (Millys) in a clearing where the Victorian tin-shanty mining village used to be.

Ever-present is the suggestion that elephants are around – for the famous (the translated classic, ‘Circles in a Forest’, is just one book written about them) population of five or six are somewhere in these expansive tracts of woodland. The forestry guards will tell you when last they saw or heard them – and often it’s only the trademark crack of a branch that gives away their presence. In thick forest these large creatures are masters of the vanishing act.

But seeing for yourself is preferable, and one sunny afternoon while driving down the shady dirt-roads that wind through the Gouna section of the forest, I came across steaming, forest-green dung and broken branches.
I’ve seen elephants all over the continent, but the validation of their presence here was special. Yet elephants aren’t the only ‘big five’ creatures that call the greater Knysna home. Riding the seemingly endless up-and-down hills surrounding the town my cousin-the-vet pointed out to me the leopard he’d once seen on a race.

At 12cm in length, much smaller than the leopard and very delicate, is the Knysna seahorse**. Endemic to the Knysna and nearby Swartvlei estuary outside neighbouring Sedgefield, the design perfection of these remarkable little creatures reminds me of my favourite purpose-built species – the pygmy kingfisher and a tenebrionid dune beetle among them.

Rather than beaches, Knysna has coves. Literally tucked beneath the Knysna Heads, they are good for dipping toes and a picnic under low-hanging tree canopies on hot summer days. The really swimmable ocean beaches are at Buffalo Bay to the west and Plettenberg Bay in the opposite direction – both within a 30 minute drive.
I could go on about the awesome views of the craggy cliffs from the Kranskop picnic site and viewpoint, but I’ll stop there. Or nearby anyway, at the quiet, small and atmospheric Noetzie beach, with its castles and misty mornings.
It’s another romantic vacation cliché, but so very different. And just one more of the reasons I wouldn’t like to sell it.

* possibly the best place to experience the mountain and forest aspect of Knysna is Portland Manor – owned by three generations of the same family.

** most easily seen at the South African National Parks office on Thesen Island and at the 34 Degrees South restaurant at the Waterfront.