Kareedouw, Tsitsikamma

Kareedouw is a gorgeous little town that lies on Route 62 just behind the Tsitsikamma National Park, between Joubertina and Humansdorp, and nestled up against the Suuranys Mountains roughly 120 kilometres from Port Elizabeth.

Kareedouw is a pretty rural town, most of its roads still dirt, that provides easy access to an enviable outdoor lifestyle that incudes the Suurveld, Kouga and Baviaanskloof Wilderness area as well as canoe trips along the Kouga River. You come here to escape it all and revel in the outdoors. And if hiking, camping and traipsing across the countryside isn't your thing, then you remain safely ensconsced in the pretty town, a book in your lap, to drink in the views.

The village is simply laid out on a grid, tin roofs and a large stone church predominate. There is little evidence of development, unless you count the Blouberg Mall on Riebeek Street just outside of town, which has little other than a supermarket, a branch of Absa and a liquor store to promote it. Beyond that are the mountains...

The town's main road has the odd restaurant and a petrol station and most of the streets are thick with trees, which is no surprise given that the town's name comes from the Khoe phrase that means 'path by the Karee trees'.

The town's popularity has increased mainly due to its placement on Route 62, marketed as the longest wine route in the world but also known as the 'mountain route' because of all of the passes through which it wends. Together with other small towns like Hankey, Patensie and Joubertina, Kareedouw has mushroomed with the rising tide of visitors. The major attraction of the town is that it lies at the southern most entrance to the Baviaanskloof, a World Heritage Site.