Eco-Tours

Mindblowing results

The company Featherbed Co has been rebuilding the infrastructure of the tourist facilities and rehabilitating the reserve like their lives depended on it, and what they have created – especially on the 2.2km walk through coastal forest fynbos – blew my mind away.

I had heard the views before the fire were spectacular, but one positive thing that could be taken from the blaze is the fact that the current views have opened up a whole new world, so to speak. According to one of my intrepid guides, these views haven’t been seen in many a decade. They include almost uninterrupted, panoramic views of the famous Knysna Heads – which apparently bore witness to many a shipwreck back in the day; Thesen Island and Leisure Isle, with the latter, according to the very informative guide André Ackerman, having been completely separate from the Knysna municipal area in former years; and vistas of Coney Glen and the rocky coastline it connects to as far as the eye can see.

What’s that famous television commercial line? “But wait, there’s more!”

Return ferry trip to boot

Not only is the Featherbed Eco-Tour a wondrous journey of splendid views, hidden rock pools and formations, and an insight into indigenous flora and fauna, but it includes a return ferry trip on the Knysna Estuary with fun, history lessons to boot, served up with some of André’s dry humour; a 4x4 Unimog vehicle and trailor drive up to the headland of the reserve; and a tasty buffet lunch under a canopy of milkwood trees at their outdoor restaurant afterwards to replenish the body.