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The Garden Route (Tuinroete in the Afrikaans language)
is a well-known stretch of the East coast of South Africa
providing breathtaking scenery with it's lush forests and
lakes. It runs from Heidelberg in the Cape to the Storms
River which is crossed along the N2 coastal highway over
the Paul Sauer Bridge in the extreme western reach of the
neighbouring Eastern Cape. The name comes from the verdant
and ecologically diverse vegetation encountered here and
the numerous lagoons and lakes dotted along the coast. It
includes towns such as Mossel Bay, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg
Bay and Nature's Valley; with George, the Garden Route's
largest city and main administrative centre.
It has
an oceanic climate, with mild to warm summers, and mild to
cool winters. It has the mildest climate in South Africa and
the second mildest climate in the world, after Hawaii, according
to the Guinness Book of Records. Temperatures rarely fall
below 10°C in winter and rarely climb beyond 28°C
in summer. Rain occurs year-round, with a slight peak in the
spring months, brought by the humid sea-winds from the Indian
Ocean rising and releasing their precipitation along the Outeniqua
and Tsitsikamma Mountains just inland of the coast.
The Route is
sandwiched between the aforementioned mountains and the Indian
Ocean. The Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma indigenous forests are
a unique mixture of Cape Fynbos and Temperate Forest and offer
hiking trails and eco-tourism activities. Nearly 300 species
of bird life are to be found in a variety of habitats ranging
from fynbos to forest to wetlands.
Ten nature reserves
embrace the varied ecosystems of the area 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 to
December).
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