Tsitsikamma's Stormsriver Adventures

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Treetop canopy tour, Storms River Adventures, Tsitsikamma

© Chris Marais

At Stormsriver Adventures in Tsitsikamma one of the great priorities is training. Since the year 2000, they have trained more than 500 guides. Many have become the best in their particular field, and you'll find adventure professionals all over the country - and the world - who first cut their teeth here.

Then there's the little restaurant. Appropriately enough for Storms River Village, which is set within a forest, it is called Trees, and it's a great Tsitsikamma social upliftment project. Stormsriver Adventures helped local women set up the restaurant, and every toasted sandwich you order here adds to the tipping point, lifting previously disempowered people out of poverty.

Storms River Adventures, Tsitsikamma, is accredited by Fair Trade in Tourism SA, so, naturally, they also take care of the environment. The ziplines attached to the noble old yellowwoods and mahoganies are padded, and the platforms carefully constructed to minimise damage. That may slip your mind, though, as the adrenalin races and a Knysna turaco flashes its crimson wings at you in flight.

There are other Tsitsikamma activities. As you take in the beauty of the forest on the far more sedate Woodcutter's Journey, you may remember that Stormsriver Adventures provides environmental education and food for local schools, helped develop and market crafts, and supports animal welfare education, as well as home-based care groups.

By then, though, you'll probably be too immersed in the beauty of the ferns, the ancient forests trees and the lively Storms River to remember.