Knysna, South Africa
Knysna is on the N2, and is part of the Western Cape's scenic garden route.
Halaal Food
Try a Gatsby from Trio Flame Grills.
Property
Millwood mine
In 1876, deep in the indigenous forests near Knysna at the lower reaches of the Karatara River, an alluvial gold nugget was discovered by James Hooper in a stream (named Victoria Jubilee Creekin 1887 in honour of Queen Victoria's Jubilee). By 1885 the rush began with prospectors scrambling for digging rights. Because a sawmill was operated in the area, it became known as Millwood.
In 1886 a gold reef was discovered and in 1887 the Millwood Goldfields was officially opened. Unfortuanately, the quartz layers in which the gold was found had folded and faulted over the millenia and the reefs tended to "dissapear". The last attempt to mine gold by a syndicate in 1920 again failed.
Accommodation
See Knysna accommodation options.
Endlovana (Place of the little elephant) Coastal Hideaway
This 85-hectare piece of sea-fronting fynbos is owned by Susan Campbell. No permanent structures may be built on the sensitive milkwood dune forest, so accommodation is in luxury safari tents.
Noetzie/Noetzee
Noetzie is a little seaside resort next to Knysna. The Noetzee Castle is the ultimate spot to stay at the Pezula Resort.
High Tides
"A high tide of a different sort mystified the people of Noetzee one day in the early nineteen-thirties. Noetzee as I knew it was a village of week-end beach cottages and the shacks of coloured people on the hill; five miles from Knysna by a pretty hillside track, with the Noetzee river entering the sea between the rocky headlands. Trees grow right down to the beach. It was summer, most of the cottages were occupied and some people were bathing. As the tide rose they saw that huge shoals of fish were coming in with the waves. Some were alive, others were dead; and the bathers were able to select their fish and carry them on shore. Soon the beach was littered with thousands of fish. Gulls scented a feast and gathered like vultures. Some of the fish were of species well-known at Knysna, others were unfamiliar or rare. My friend and newspaper colleague Miss Sanni Metelerkamp told me that she noticed one strange fish with a snout like a pig; another had a brown mane from nose to tail; there were red, purple and golden fish, spotted fish, striped fish, rainbow fish...Dr John R. Grindley has explained the Noetzee phenomenon. Intensely cold masses of water lie deep beneath the Agulhas current and seldom reach the surface. Near the coast, however, the cold water comes much closer to the surface and strong winds may cause upwelling in some areas. Then the fish are stunned or killed and the tide brings in this strange harvest." Lawrence Green in his last book, When the Journey's Over
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