Oh, Glorious Garden Route Rivers!

The Garden Route is one of South Africa's most popular holiday destinations. The beaches are beautiful and the forests almost sacred. And then there are the rivers! Here's your guide to paradise on water.

- Words and pictures by Sophia van Taak

HANG OUT AT TOTTIES ON A SUNDAY

During the Anglo-Boer War, a woman from New Zealand called Florence Eleanor (Tottie) Cross traveled to South Africa to work as a nurse. When the war ended, she stayed and married a Van Reenen man who owned a sawmill in the Knysna Forest. She opened her own butchery and general dealer in Rheenendal in 1922.

The shop is still owned by her family, but it's now Totties Country Market where you can buy anything from fresh bread and biscuits to pumpkins, ice cream, and lunch on Sundays. There's also a coffee truck and clothing stalls.

Where? Just east of Rheenendal on the Rheenendal Road. It's near the Drupkelders Trail - do the walk on a Sunday and pop in here for lunch afterwards.

Cost: The Harvester's Plate costs R100 per person - help yourself to several salads, quiches and bobotie. A cooked meal (pork and chicken, pumpkin tart, rice, vegetables, and a baked dessert) costs R150.

When? Lunch is served from 10 am to 3pm.

TOUW, DUIWE & HOMTINI RIVERS

HIKE & SWIM

There are lots of day hikes on the Garden Route, but not all of them have a soundtrack of burbling water and frog song. These three trails all follow rivers.