Goukamma Nature Reserve
Text and pictures: Dale Morris
Source: This article is from the October 2011 issue of Country Life.
Hidden among the dunes and forests of the Garden Route, Goukamma is one of the country’s least known yet perhaps nicest little nature reserves.
Have you ever heard of Goukamma Nature Reserve? Probably not, but if you have you’ll know its one of the Garden Route’s best kept little secrets. Located between Sedgefield (South Africa’s first official slow town) and the quaint coastal village of Buffels Bay, Goukamma is one of those places you could easily drive right past and never know was there.
It has a serene, pea-green lake at its heart, as well as a river, an undeveloped estuary and 16 kilometres of empty beaches to stroll along. Sandstone cliffs festooned with resting and nesting cormorants tower above rocky islets and an unruly sea where dolphins are as common as corrupt politicians.
Goukamma, as well as comprising some 2 500 hectares of fynbos and forest, most of which sits atop an ancient undulating dune field, also includes a marine reserve that extends out into the Indian Ocean for more than a kilometre.
No bait collecting of any kind is allowed along the reserve’s entire length, so the marine life flourishes. At low tide in summer the rock pools are great to explore and you can clearly see the benefits that the bait-collecting ban has had. Octopuses are often seen crawling around on carpets of gaily coloured sea anemones while on the beach itself, formally disadvantaged communities of African Black Oystercatchers are doing very well.
On my last visit to this magical little reserve, I spotted 18 of them trotting up and down the beach, looking for all the world like clockwork toys.They appeared happy to me, free from the persecutions of dog walkers, beach drivers and the fishermen who nearly drove them to extinction not so long ago.
The Goukamma oysters mind you, well, they didn’t look so happy.
Although you are not allowed to collect bait in Goukamma, fishing from the shore is permitted. Cape Nature (the organisation responsible for looking after the reserve) once tried to put a halt to it, mostly because South Africa’s marine life needs as many safe havens as it can get, but local fishermen challenged and overturned the decision before it was put into place. However, Cape Nature has still managed to restrict their activities.
“Vehicular access to the coast is intentionally limited to just two points at either end of the reserve,” Keith Spencer, the reserve’s manager told me when I met him at the park’s picnic site on the shores of the Goukamma River “As few fishermen are prepared to walk far from where they can park their cars, this means there’s less pressure on our fish stocks.”
Limiting vehicular access turned out to be a very good plan and most of Goukamma’s marine animals have probably never seen a hook in their lives. It also makes for a lovely hiking experience, and every time I visit the reserve (which is often because I live just around the corner) I rarely, if ever, see another soul.
Although there are people who vociferously lament Goukamma’s bait-collecting ban and vehicular access restrictions (I met one in a local pub, a portly chap who didn’t like the idea of having to walk to catch his fish), such restrictions are critical if fish stocks both inside and outside the reserve are to remain healthy.
Fish, such as the rare Red Roman, breed in Goukamma and from there they repopulate areas that have been denuded by fishermen. Without such protected areas the fault-finding fishermen would have even more to complain about. Simply put, there wouldn’t be any fish for them to catch … anywhere!
“If you really want to go fishing,” Keith told me, “then get a licence and come rid our lake of the invasive bass that live there.”
A jolly good idea I thought to myself, and so, upon my very next visit, I stocked up on worms and the like and went boating with a buddy upon the beautiful Groenvlei lake. Sadly for us, but perhaps not for the fish, my friend and I are incompetent anglers and our ineffectual casting and reeling resulted in nothing but frustration – and a painful hook in the top of my head. Bass rippled at the surface, mocking our ineptitude, but rather than grow angry we decided to switch our focus to bird-spotting instead.
We had much more success at that.
Goukamma hosts an impressive 260 avian species with quite a few being special and scarce. As well as the usual spoonbills, kingfishers, turacos and seabirds, the lakeside vegetation is home to Little Bee-eaters and African Hoopoes, my favourite little bird.
The lake used to be home to hippos too, but sadly these great beasts have long since gone from it. I asked Keith if there were plans to reintroduce them but he said the nearby presence of the busy N2 plus the adjacent town of Sedgefield would likely cause problems. “Imagine a hippo wandering onto the highway – not a pretty situation.”
Goukamma has a plethora of self-catering accommodation, all of which give nice views over the reserve’s lake, river or estuary. But the best of the bunch must surely be Mvubu Cottage, a sizable log cabin with a huge deck overlooking the aptly named Groenvlei.
Milkwood trees draped with mosses hide the cottage from all but the resident turacos and a half tame genet, so when you stay there you could easily imagine a world without people. Shame about the noise from the nearby N2, though.
A rickety wooden jetty juts out into the lake where a kayak awaits the attentions of the cottage’s guests. You can use it to go fishing or birdwatching, or merely just to paddle around in and enjoy the solitude and calmness of the place.
In winter, Goukamma’s beach and dune trails reward the hiker with multiple sightings of Southern Right Whales. Common Dolphins are as common as their name would suggest, and sometimes seals and penguins haul out to take a rest on the coffee-coloured sands.
The hiking is great, and you can choose to do short loops from either end of the reserve, or take off on a 14-kilometre slog over dunes and across the sweeping beaches.There are six well-maintained trails to choose from, all of which provide spectacular views, great birding opportunities and a lovely ambience of peace and isolation.
One of the nicest and certainly most educational ways of seeing the reserve is to join local guide Mark Dixon on one of his regular Garden Route Trail slackpacking excursions.
Mark is a qualified naturalist and one of the most knowledgeable people in the region when it comes to wildlife and geography. A walk with him will open your eyes to all the lovely little residents of Goukamma, be they nesting oystercatchers, fynbos orchids, eagle-owls or jellyfish. Lucky hikers might be fortunate enough to glimpse one of the reserve’s resident otters, caracals or bushpigs.
When I get tired of hiking, Goukamma becomes a great place to go kayaking. Stable canoes are available for hire on the Buffels Bay side of the reserve where the Goukamma River is an easy and rewarding paddle. Skirting giant dunes and riparian forests, you can paddle for almost 10 kilometres upstream before the water becomes too shallow to continue.
All in all, Goukamma is a surprising little reserve, mostly because few people know of its existence – not even those who live right next door in Sedgefield. It’s a picturesque place too – a lovely location where you can escape from the rat race.
It’s also important for conservation and, despite its modest size, the marine protected area is of international significance. Without it the region’s rare fish stocks, Red Romans, Musselcrackers and the like, would undoubtedly disappear
Goukamma is a special secret, known to only a few, but now that the cat’s out of the bag perhaps you should visit it before the crowds pull in.
Footnotes
- Goukamma lies off the N2, about 40 km east of George and 20 km west of Knysna. Both Sedgefield and Buffels Bay are close to the reserve and therefore convenient places for buying provisions.
- Comfortable, well appointed chalets offer self-catering beside the estuary or at Groenvlei, Buffalo Valley
- There’s no camping in Goukamma but there are excellent camp grounds at Lake Pleasant on the western side of the reserve (www.lake-pleasant.co.za) and Buffels Bay on the eastern side (www.buffalobay.co.za).
- To explore the reserve on foot with Mark Dixon, visit or call 082213 5931.
Goukamma Nature Reserve Cape Nature 0861 227 362 8873 or 021 483 0190, email, website
More info on the town of Knysna | More info on the Garden Route area |
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