Calling all South Africans to join the walk in the Garden Route
19 April 2017
The Garden Route Walking Festival starts on the 14th April – 17 April 2017.
The myriad of hikes planned for the festival are all guided by experts. According to festival organizer, Galeo Saintz ‘there’s a hike for everyone’ on the festival’s menu. ‘There are strenuous long ones which take long hours. Then moderate and relatively shorter ones.’
What makes the festival so unique is the buy-in received from various landowners including conservation agencies, non-Governmental organisations and private landowners. The walking festival was initiated during the Easter Holidays last year (2016) to encourage ‘a truly collaborative festival where municipalities, conservation groups, local companies and walking enthusiasts come together each year during Easter to celebrate the beauty and magic of the natural environment’ according to Saintz.
‘Adventure is in our nature’ is the Garden Route National Park’s (GRNP) slogan. Hiking is not only healthy but also a great, fun way to explore nature on foot. SANParks has dedicated teams to maintain the quality of trails in the GRNP to allow visitors to walk. Fourteen (14) of the Park’s trails have green flag status, 12 in Tsitsikamma and 2 in Knysna. This is a global benchmark affirming the quality of trails meet criteria in terms of the following: Conservation status, health and safety measures, cleanliness and maintenance, sustainability, management and others.
Hikers are requested to come prepared for an experience of a lifetime, the National Geographic described it as ‘a trip that will break your instagram.’ The picturesque route is popular for its estuaries, lakes, beaches and mystical forests. The well-conserved Garden Route National Park received a 77% score during its conservation audit last year.