Hikers use a water crossing during one of the Walking Fest trails,
More than a thousand people took the opportunity to walk the Garden Route National Park (GRNP) during the Easter Festival, when the park opened up its day-hiking trails to nature lovers in support of the Garden Route Walking Festival.
This was the first festival of its kind, and according to Nandi Mgwadlamba of SANParks it was a huge success, offering 12 hikes, including green flag-status hikes, which attracted nearly a third of its walkers from outside of the Garden Route.
A green flag-status is a global benchmark for hiking trails and includes the following criteria: conservation status, health and safety measures, cleanliness and maintenance, sustainability and management. The most favoured trail in Wilderness was the 7.3km Half-Collared Kingfisher trail, which attracted even more visitors than usual.
It is close to the Ebb and Flow Rest Camp, has numerous picnic spots and ends at a waterfall. Hikers have to use a pontoon at a river crossing, a kilometre after the start of the hike, which is one of the two recently declared green flag-status hikes in Knysna.
