A Paradise In The Wilderness

Visitors find freedom at Treedom on the Garden Route

- Janine Avery

I have travelled the Garden Route many times. Being lucky enough to grow up in Cape Town, childhood family holidays were often spent on the banks of Swartvlei, playing putt-putt or bouncing on a trampoline. As I got older, I took to the water and filled the air with laughter on board a banana tube pulled behind a speedboat. And then, in my teenage years, the surf and cocktails of Plettenberg Bay beckoned. Early days with my husband were spent lazing around on houseboats in Knysna or adventuring through the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn. However, in all this time, one destination that seemed to escape my travels was Wilderness. Sure, I had stopped to look at the beach or to have a quick bite to eat at one of the roadside restaurants, but for the large part, I had simply whizzed on by on the way to other bigger, more well-known towns along the coast.