Cape Town - There’s a sign beside the N2 as you enter Knysna: “The best ten days of your winter”. It’s the advertising slogan for the 30th Knysna Festival – rather aptly the “pearl” anniversary – that takes place from next Friday until July 7.
Knysna is a busy place at the best of times, but it swells to bursting as about 60 000 visitors descend on the southern Cape town for 10 days of food, booze, music and sport – effectively doubling the population.
Tourism is the mainstay of the region’s economy and local businesses pull out all the stops to ensure participants and families of the festival’s two biggest individual events, the Knysna Forest Marathon and cycle tour, have a full programme of entertainment.
Unlike many other festival towns, Knysna makes a huge effort to keep prices down.
“There are about 300 local businesses registered with the Knysna Tourism Office,” says events development manager Glendyrr Fick, “and we specifically request them not to price themselves out of the market during the festival.”
While there are a few fair-sized hotels in Knysna – the swankiest being Pezula – by far the most popular form of tourist accommodation is the bed-and-breakfast establishment, of which there are about 200. Those that are central are especially popular during festival time; the influx of visitors makes traffic a nightmare and it’s easier to walk between events than to drive.
If you prefer to be away from the hurly-burly, there are a plethora of upmarket B&B establishments and guesthouses in the established suburbs along the eastern shore of the Knysna estuary or on Leisure Isle. Here the emphasis is on spacious rooms in homes set in large gardens.
One such is the four-star Stannards Guest Lodge, which is run by Patrick and Helene-Marie Ceillier. Situated in Hunters Home not far from Pezula, it features six rooms which range in price from R990 to R1 160 during the winter, as well as two luxury self-catering garden cottages (R720 to R1 050).
There is also no shortage of good restaurants. My favourites are 34º South in the Knysna Waterfront, Ile de Pain bistro-deli on Thyssen Island and the Bell in Belvidere which serves great pub fare.
One dining novelty will be food and music “pairings” featuring live music plus a three-course set menu to suit at R120 per person. Set to take place at the Old Gaol Café in Main Road, themes include jazz, Cape minstrel, African and Rastafarian (Knysna has a significant Rastafarian community).
Of course, Knysna’s Oyster Festival is about oysters and the town’s popular gastronomic delicacy will be the focus of many a restaurant’s signature dish for the duration.
There are, however, only so many oysters one can eat and events you can attend before your system rebels at the thought of gelid molluscs, lemon and Tabasco.
This isn’t much of a problem because there are a host of activities for the family in or close to Knysna.
Possibly one of the most inspiring is to take a trip to the Knysna Elephant Park just outside Plettenberg Bay where you can interact with a small herd of elephants – imagine hugging the trunk of 25-year-old matriarch Sally – and learn exactly what is meant by the often-misused phrase “gentle giant”.
They’re a greedy, sweet-toothed bunch and you’ll be delighted by the animals’ antics as they jostle one another to get to the fruit pails from which they are hand-fed by visitors. One young male clowns by rolling on his side and begging comically for a morsel. It’s amazing to watch people overcome their initial fear of being so close to the huge beasts – to the extent that they eventually cuddle them.
There are several other wildlife sanctuaries and rehabilitation facilities nearby. Particularly impressive are Monkeyland, Birds of Eden and the 3.7-hectare Tsitsikamma Wolf Sanctuary.
Winter is also the time of year when whales come in close to the shore and calf. It’s one heck of an experience to put to sea on a blustery day and make your way through the dangerous Knysna Heads and into the open ocean – especially when its churning like a washing-machine – to find yourself surrounded by a pod of dolphins or within 50m of a breaching whale.
You’ll also get a close-up look at some fascinating stalactite-festooned caves between the Knysna Heads and Brenton-on-Sea.
My best activity in the area is simply to get into the car (or on to the bike) and explore one or more of the unbelievably beautiful roads that abound in the area. While Plettenberg Bay is still much of a (rather dowdy) tourist trap, Knysna’s two other nearby neighbours – Sedgefield and Wilderness – cannot be faulted for friendliness and value for money.
The produce sold at the Wild Oats farmers’ market on Saturday mornings in Sedgefield is as good, if not better, than just about anything you’ll find anywhere in South Africa. It ranges from chutneys and relishes, homemade muesli, craft cheeses, handmade German sausage, cakes and breads to flowers and health products.
You could also go for a walk along Sedgefield’s unspoilt beach.
Head inland from Knysna – from the Belvidere turnoff on the N2 – and that will take you on to the dirt road up the Phantom Pass and into the forest. Road quality is extremely good and the two-hour circular route will take you through Karatara, Hoekwil and down into Wilderness.
The Garden Route is still hippy country: if you’re not into marathons, bike races or oysters, tune in and chill out.
l For more information on the 2013 Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival (June 28 - July 7), go to www.oysterfestival.co.za. - Saturday Star