GEORGE
Garden Route Botanical Gardens
Hopelessly too few people know about this lovely garden at 49 Caledon Street which celebrated its 25th birthday last November. On the 16hectares are two dams, including the Van Kervel Dam built in 1811 as George’s first reservoir, as well as the Garden Route Birds of Prey Rehab Centre, which aims to release injured falcons, eagles and owls back into nature as quickly as possible. The garden is a safe paradise for birdwatchers and the wheelchair-friendly Mushroom Meander makes it possible for everyone to look for birds in a forested, wooded area. Apart from the dams and surrounding wetlands (which you can view from the bird hide), a variety of other habitats – fynbos, rehabilitated natural scrublands and forests, grassland and a patch of arid Karoo – attract a wide variety of birds to the garden. A total of 172 species have been recorded here so
