Knysna’s history is woven around its rich natural heritage – the indigenous forests.

And yet, out of about 250000 hectares of indigenous forest that grew in the Southern Cape in the mid 1700's, only about 65000 hectares remain.

Little is knows of the earliest human inhabitants of the Garden Route, except that they were mostly wanderers who relied largely on the ocean for the sustenance.  It is almost certain, therefore, that the forests lay virtually untouched until the late 1700's, when woodcutters' posts were established at George and Plettenberg Bay.  In 1804, George Rex - the man they call "the founder of Knysna" - settled here with the express intention of exploiting the forestes, and in 1817 the Naval Commissioner at Simonstown wrote that the Knysna forests contained "a sufficient quantity of  fine timber to build a whole navy".  A naval dockyard was therefore established at Knysna in 1820, although it was burned down twice before even a single ship was built and it was closed after just 5 years.  During World War II, however, a local boatyard, Thesen & Co., was employed to build ships for the British Navy.  Fortunately for the Knysna forests, though, these vessels were built from imported hardwoods, although the boats' knees, which held the ribs to the thwarts, were made from indigenous milkwood.

Knysna's first harbour facility, the wooden "Government Jetty", was built in 1883 and the brig Ambulant was its first visitor. She came to load a typical cargo of the time: 3,000 railway sleepers cut from indigenous yellowwood.

Harvesting continued throughout the 19th century and was responsible for much of the destruction of the forests, although encroachment and the Great Fire of 1869, which burned a huge swath from George to Humansdorp, also contributed.  The first Conservator Of Forests was appointed in 1874 a s direct result of a Government enquiry into the fire, but indiscrimiate exploitation was only finally stopped in 1939, when the forests were closed to independent woodcutters.

Indigenous timber is now harvested at a rate of no more than 2m3 (1 tree) per hectare.  The process - called the "mortality harvesting pre-emption system" - is strictly controlled by Government and seeks to emulate the forests' natural cycle.  Only trees which can be expected to die within the next ten years are felled - and in the felling, space is made for young saplings to grow towards maturity.

Apart from this limited harvesting, our indigenous forests are now protected and will remain so for generations to come.

The state-managed indigenous forests of the Garden Route offer facilities for camping, walking biking, horse riding, picnicking, angling, scenic drives, bird-watching and quiet contemplation.

The forests also offer some of the finest mountain biking routes in the country.  Maps and information available from Knysna Tourism.