Knysna sits on the edge of a lagoon, a broad, sheltered stretch of water that almost seems like a lake until you notice the tide running in and out through a narrow gap in the sandstone cliffs. These are the Knysna Heads, two great cliffs that guard the entrance, and the passage between them is one of the most dangerous harbour mouths in South Africa, with many ships lost over the years. A viewpoint on the eastern Head offers a spectacular look at the channel and the surf breaking on the rocks. The lagoon itself is a protected estuary, home to the rare Knysna seahorse, found nowhere else, and a variety of fish and birds.
The town has a long and colourful history. It was founded in the early nineteenth century by George Rex, a settler of mysterious origins whom local legend claimed to be the illegitimate son of King George III, and who built up a timber and shipbuilding business here. Timber from the surrounding forests, yellowwood and stinkwood, built the town's wealth, and the great Knysna forest still stands in the hills behind, a remnant of the ancient forest with a handful of shy elephants, the last in the region. The Knysna loerie, a bright green forest bird, flashes crimson wings among the trees.
The waterfront is lively, with restaurants, boat tours and craft shops, and the town is known for oysters, grown in the lagoon and celebrated in the Knysna Oyster Festival each July. Eat them fresh with lemon, with a glass of local white wine. A few kilometres outside town, the Featherbed nature reserve on the western Head can be reached by a ferry across the lagoon and offers walks and views.
For riders, the N2 here is a spectacular road, running along the coast and across the lagoon on a causeway and bridge, with the forest-covered hills on one side and the sea on the other. The surface is excellent, the curves long and sweeping, but traffic can be heavy, particularly in the holiday season from December to January, with trucks, buses and tourists. Rain falls throughout the year, so be ready for showers and wet roads. Knysna is a town of nearly seventy thousand people, with fuel, supermarkets, motorcycle shops and a wide range of accommodation. Plettenberg Bay, thirty kilometres east, is the next larger stop along the coast.