Kingfisher Trails

About Kingfisher Trails

Start: Wilderness National Park near the Touws River bridge
Duration: varying between 3.8 km and 10 km
Fitness: easy and pefect for children or elderly people
Our tip: don't walk during wet weather as the river tends to flood suddenly

Known also as the Half Collared Kingfisher Trail, Giant, Brownhooded or Pied Kingfisher Trail (these are all varying routes) the Kingfisher hiking trail takes one through the Wilderness Lakes area, controlled by SANParks.

Wilderness lies just east of George on the Garden Route. The Wilderness National Park is a series of lakes, rivers, estuaries and beaches set against a backdrop of mountains and forest that is hard to beat for sheer breathtaking beauty.

It includes five rivers, five lakes and 18 km worth of coastline. The lakes are all connected by the Touw River, a renowned birding area home to thousands of water birds. The park has been awarded Ramsar status for its wetlands, which have international importance.

Through the lakes are a series of canoeing and hiking trails that wind through the forest and along the rivers' edges, called Kingfisher trails for the probability of spotting one of the five kingfisher species that occur here.

Each of the Kingfisher hikes allows a different perspective on the beauty of the ecosystems that make up the lakes:

The Pied Kingfisher, 10 km, takes roughly four hours to complete and is a circular and easy walk across the floodplains of the Serpentine River, along the boardwalk to the beach.

The Giant Kingfisher, 7 km, is a little more taxing. It follows the east bank of the Touw River through the forest to a waterfall where there is a swimming pool.

The Brownhooded Kingfisher, 5 km, follows the Duiwe River to another waterfall.

The Halfcollared Kingfisher, 3,8 km, takes one through indigenous forest on the west bank of the Touw River.