From Knysna the N2 continues east to Plettenberg Bay through remnants of the primeval forests and the serried ranks of plantations.

About 3km east of Knysna a gravel road turns off south to one of the most secluded beaches on the south coast, Noetzie, at the mouth of the river by the same name (black).  The resort is noted for several beach houses built in the form of medieval castles.  The Bracken Hill Falls on the Witels River, a tributary of the Noetzie, are nearby.

Noetzie has its own ghost story.  After a heavy storm in 1881 fishermen and woodcutters found a schooner called Phoenix stuck on the rocks near the mouth of the river.  There was no one aboard and no sign of the crew, and the last entry in the logbook had been made five years previously!

Along the road to Plettenberg Bay there are turn-offs to hamlets and forest stations such as Kruisfontein, Garden of Eden, Harkerville, Kranshoek and Wittedrif.  The Harkerville Coast Hiking Trail starts at the forest station and takes in the Sinclair Nature Reserve.

One of the turn-offs to the north leads to Kafferkop, a reminder of one of the very first battles fought between white settlers and the Xhosa who saw the growing white penetration of these parts as a threat tto their hegemony along the eastern seaboard.  In October 1802 a Xhosa raiding party slaughtered a number of cattle and captured a group fo white women and children being taken to safety in five wagons.  A few days later a commando caught up with the Xhosa at Kafferkop.  The women and children were recovered and the Xhosa who survived the skirmish put to flight.

Accommodation in and around Garden Route