Walking Festival: Oystercatcher Trail
Over the Easter weekend the Hi-Tec Garden Route Walking Festival took place and we were honoured to be a part of it.
Over the Easter weekend the Hi-Tec Garden Route Walking Festival took place and we were honored to be a part of it. There were over 52 different hikes to choose from over the four days all along the Garden Route. Majority of the hikes were free to join (like ours) but it was encouraged that the participants make a donation to one of the non-profit nature charities working in the Garden Route who help protect and conserve our beautiful region.
On April 22nd is when our hike commenced, an 18.5km circular route that began in Boggomsbaai. Hikers walked a 4km stretch of beach until we passed the neighbouring vacation town of Vleesbaai, where along the way we did a beach clean-up, one of two for that day. We proceeded along a peninsular of rocks and boulders until Fransmanhoek where we had our self-packed lunches with some dolphin views! Fransmanshoek is named after a French war ship ‘La Fortune’ that wrecked in 1763 leaving 400 French soldiers stranded. They had to trek back to Cape Town but some stopped halfway settling in Swellendam. After lunch we did our last stretch walking through a hillside path, up onto sand dunes, back over the peninsular, through the town of Vleesbaai and back onto the beach heading back towards Boggoms.
We had an amazing group of people ranging from ages 4 to 66 that we got to share this day with educating them on the history of the area as well as the environment that we walked in.
The Hi-Tec Garden Route Walking Festival is an amazing initiative to get people out and about in nature learning about conservation and creating a love affair with nature particularly in the Garden Route which is such a beautiful part of our country. Remember to look out next year for this amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in nature you do not want to miss out!
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