Keurbooms River

The Keurbooms comes down out of the Tsitsikamma mountains through a gorge of indigenous forest and opens into a lagoon behind the beach at Plettenberg Bay. The lower river is a nature reserve, and the way to use it is by water: canoes from the mouth take you upstream between steep forested banks, past sandstone cliffs, into water that becomes fresh and still as you leave the tidal reach. About seven kilometres up there is a hut with bunks that can only be reached by boat, which makes for an easy overnight with everything paddled in. A ferry runs the same stretch for people who would rather be driven. Keurbooms are the tree the river is named for, flowering pink in spring along the banks. The lagoon end is busy with holiday boats in season, while the upper river stays quiet.

What you actually see

• The forest gorge - steep indigenous banks and sandstone cliffs above the water.
• The boat-in hut - overnight bunks about seven kilometres up, reachable only by paddle.
• The tidal change - salt lagoon giving way to still fresh water upstream.
• The keurboom trees - pink flowering along the banks in spring.

When to go

October to April. A day for a paddle, or overnight at the hut. Mornings are calmest.

Honest expectations

Paddling upstream against current and afternoon wind is real work. The hut books out in season and everything must be carried by boat. The lagoon end is crowded with motorboats over the holidays. River levels change after mountain rain.

Nearby

Plettenberg Bay and Robberg are west; Nature's Valley is east.