Kanna Biodiversity Route

About Kanna Biodiversity Route

The Kanna Biodiversity Route is a rural tourism route created by Open Africa as a way to draw attention to the lesser-known gems, and old favourites, of the Klein Karoo and Route 62.

Kanna, or Sceletium tortuosum, is a succulent herb commonly found in South Africa. It is also known as Channa or Kougoed (chewable things) and was used by hunter-gatherers as a mood-altering substance; a little like a natural form of Prozac. The San used it to reduce hunger, thirst and tiredness, and the first written account of its uses was by Jan van Riebeeck in 1662.

In relation to the route Kanna refers to Kannaland, the original name for the Klein Karoo derived from the kannabos that grows prolifically in the area – an area also recognised as one of the world's high-priority conservation areas. These days, however, it is the farmers' goats and ostriches that benefit from the plant rather than those who live here.

The Kanna Biodiversity Route includes the towns of Ladismith, Van Wyksdorp, Zoar, Amalienstein, De Rust and Calitzdorp. Yet the route (a collection of travel attractions, accommodation, tour operators, local artisans, guides and restaurants) is less about the places than it is about the people who live there, for it is the people who provide the character of any place.

Activities on the Kanna Biodiversity Route include

• Hendrik Konstabel's Zoar Donkey Taxi (Hennie is Zoar's Khoi chief who knows the veld like the back of his hand)
• The 'donkey trail', a four-day walking trail over the Swartberg Mountain from Calitzdorp to 'Die Hel', follows the only connection with the outside world of this historic valley before a road was built
• personalised tours of Zoar and De Rust
• Hennie Cloete Veldtuin, an unusual garden overlooking Calitzdorp
• Land & Sand hiking route

Other highlights include farm stalls, wine estates, 4x4 routes, art galleries, craftspeople, nature reserves and mountain passes.

To book or for further information contact the co-ordinator of the Kanna Biodiversity Route, Alistair Reizenberg on the telephone number above.