It’s off to the park we go
When Level 3 began last month, along with some slightly relaxed regulations (some of which have recently been tightened again) came the authorisation for private and public game farms to reopen for game drives, including self-drives. However, there were still a few blurred lines surrounding national parks and game reserves. Naturally this confusion spread to and included the Garden Route National Park (GRNP), which adopted a phased reopening of the park.
Thus only nine of the park's 29 hiking/day walking trails across its three sections of Wilderness, Knysna and Tsitsikamma have been opened to the public again. In Wilderness, two trails have reopened: the Brown Hooded Kingfisher and Cape Dune Mole Rat trails. In Knysna, it is only the Terblans Trail, while Tsitsikamma boasts the most trails with Plaatbos, Goesa, Rugbos, Stinkhoutkloof, Salt River, and Kalander Kloof all open to the public again.
In addition, Knysna's Kom se Pad mountain bike route is open again along with the reopening of two open-access areas – the Knysna Estuary (Knysna section) and the Wilderness Lagoon (public access walk-through, Wilderness section). According to Department of Environment spokesperson Albi Modise, they do have guidelines in place for those seeking to go out and about. "We encourage people to hike in small groups of not more than five, and to practise social distancing and all related hygiene protocol in line with Covid-19 regulations. They must also please adhere to signage and not enter any other area than permitted," he explained. "Further, we encourage them not to carry valuables such as jewellery or expensive equipment while hiking."
All of the areas open at 07:30 and are closed by 17:00.