This weekend!

Hug an ancient yellowwood near Wilderness on the Garden Route.

WOODVILLE BIG TREE, GARDEN ROUTE

You can find several notable old Outeniqua yellowwood trees still growing in the forests of the Southern Cape. This one in Woodville near Wilderness is one of the most accessible. It’s a great-great-great-grandfather of a tree – estimated to be about 800 years old. To put its age into context: Before Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and William Wallace made history, this tree was already a small shoot. Now it’s a 33-metre tall giant with a trunk 12 m in circumference! Sit beneath the canopy for a moment and listen to small antelopes and birds rustling in the surrounding bush. Sink your feet into the lush carpet of fallen leaves and admire how the sunlight filters through the Spanish moss hanging from the branches. You’re only a few minutes’ walk from the parking area, but the hustle and bustle of the Garden Route seems a world away. You could easily spend the whole day here – there’s a picnic site with a braai drum nearby. Or you can walk a 2 km circular trail and explore the cool, green forest filled with ferns, streams and wild mushrooms. Remember to hug the Big Tree before you leave. How to get there? In Wilderness, turn off the N2 onto the Hoekwil Road. ( This road becomes the Seven Passes Road.) Drive for about 12 km and look for the turn-off to the Big Tree on the left. The parking area is about 500 m further. GPS: S33.93632 E22.64894 (turn-off) Cost: Free. Write your own permit at the wooden box at the start of the trail.