Perdekop Trail – Forest hike in the Garden Route

Perdekop Trail.

Distance : 10km
Altitude Range : 183m to 223m
Habitat : Forest
Duration : 3 to 3.5 hours.
Management: SANParks
Entrance fee : R40.00 for SA and R106.00 for international hikers.

The Perdekop Trail is a gem of a forest trail in the Harkerville forest section of the Garden Route National Park east of Knysna.

Inspecting Bushpig dung on the path.

Towering Trees

The route passes through sections of mature tall closed canopy Afro-montane Forest with Hard Pear (Olinia ventosa) one of the dominant climax species. Also in abundance are Stinkwood (Ocotea bullata) and White Elder (Platylophus trifoliatus).

Silver Vlei Spider in the center of her web above the path.

Guiding guests on the trail in the last week of February there were plenty of spider webs spanning the path with a mixture of Silver vlei, Bark and Kite spiders.

Listening to the bird chorus in the canopy.

Forest Birding

Birding was difficult, though there was a continuous chorus in the canopy with Green Wood-hoopoe, Grey Cuckooshrike, Black-headed Oriole, Black-backed Puffback and Knysna Woodpecker clearly heard while Lemon Doves regularly flushed from the forest floor.

The fern flanked swimming pool at the base of the small waterfall

At the 5km marker the trail reaches a river crossing above a small waterfall. A rough track leads down to the base of thw waterfall with a shallow pool ideal for swimming.

Route markings are excellent.

Follow the Horses Nose

The route is well marked with distance markers every kilometer. The trails sign is a horses head and the nose indicates the direction at intersections. The trail does share sections of forest path with both mountain bike routes and the Harkerville Trail.

Done and dusted.

For a guided walk on the trail contact Mark from Garden Route Trail