The Garden Route , a slender stretch of coastal plain between Mossel Bay and Storms River Mouth, bears a legendary status as South Africa's paradise - reflected in local names such as Garden of Eden and Wilderness . This soft, green, forested swath of nearly 200km is cut by rivers from the mountains to the north, tumbling down to its southern rocky shores and sandy beaches.

 

The Khoi herders who lived off its natural bounty considered the area a paradise, calling it Outeniqua ("the man laden with honey"). This Eden was quickly destroyed in the eighteenth century with the arrival of Dutch woodcutters , who had exhausted the forests around Cape Town and set about doing the same in Outeniqua, killing or dispersing the Khoi and San in the process. Birds and animals suffered too from the encroachment of Europeans. In the 1850s, the Swedish naturalist Johan Victorin shot and feasted on the species he had come to study, some of which, including the endangered narina trogon, he noted were both "beautiful and good to eat".

Despite the dense appearance of the area, what you see today are only the remnants of one of Africa's great forests ; much of the indigenous hardwoods have been replaced by exotic pine plantations, and the only milk and honey you'll find now is in the many shops servicing the Garden Route coastal resorts. Conservation may have halted the wholesale destruction of the indigenous woodlands, but a huge growth in tourism and the influx of urbanites seeking a quiet life in the relatively crime-free Garden Route towns threatens to rob the area of its remaining tranquillity.

Most visitors take the Garden Route as a journey between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, dallying for little more than a day or two for shopping or sightseeing. The rapid passage cut by the excellent N2 makes it all too easy to have a fast scenic drive - and end up disappointed because you don't see that much from the road. To make the journey worthwhile, you'll need to slow down, take some detours off the highway and explore a little to find secluded coves, walks in the forests or mountain passes in the Karoo.

The Garden Route coast is dominated by three inlets - Mossel Bay, the Knysna Lagoon and Plettenberg Bay - each with its own town. Oldest of these and closest to Cape Town is Mossel Bay , an industrial centre of some charm, which marks the official start of the Garden Route. Knysna , though younger, exudes a well-rooted urban character and is the nicest of the coastal towns, with one major drawback - unlike Plettenberg Bay , its eastern neighbour, it has no beach of its own. A major draw, though, is the Knysna Forest , the awe-inspiring remnants of the once vast ancient woodlands that still cover some of the hilly country around Knysna.

Between the coastal towns are some ugly modern holiday developments, but also some wonderful empty beaches and tiny coves, such as Victoria Bay, Buffels Bay and Nature's Valley . Best of all is the Tsitsikamma National Park , which has it all - indigenous forest, dramatic coastline, the pumping Storms River Mouth and South Africa's most popular hike, the Otter Trail .