Wilderness

Wilderness sits at the eastern end of the George municipality, where the Touw River cuts through coastal forest and meets the sea alongside the first of five interconnected lakes. Those lakes — Eilandvlei, Langvlei, Rondevlei, Swartvlei, and Groenvlei — are linked by canals and channels and form a wetland complex of 1,300 hectares that was designated as a Ramsar site of international importance in 1991. The river mouth, the beach, the lagoon, and the forest are all within walking distance of each other. That combination is rare anywhere in South Africa.

In 1877, a Liverpool merchant named George Bennett bought land at the Touw River mouth and put in a sawmill, exploiting the Outeniqua yellowwood forests. The timber trade is long gone but the forest remains. The George-Knysna railway arrived in 1928, Wilderness got its own station, and the town began its slow build as a holiday destination. What it became is a functioning residential town of around 6,000 people, with a tourist economy layered over a community that lives here year-round.

The activities are water-based: kayaking and canoeing on the lakes, swimming at the beach, fishing at the lagoon mouths, and birdwatching in the wetlands — African fish eagle, Knysna lourie, giant kingfisher, and various waterfowl are reliably present. The beach is long and wide, and the town taper from the N2 down to the shore through forested roads that give it a green, shaded character unlike the more exposed coastal towns to the east.

Wilderness has grown significantly and in summer it is busy. The N2 through town carries Garden Route traffic and can back up. But the underlying environment is intact — the national park boundary runs through the town and the wetlands are protected. It remains one of the more genuinely beautiful settings on the South African coast.