Island Lake

Island Lake

The Garden Route is home to two exceptional tourist destinations George and Knysna, and tucked away between these you will find the beautiful and popular Wilderness National Park. The Park protects three major zones of indigenous forest, four types of Fynbos (wild shrubs), lakes and winding waterways. There is a series of lakes that are joined by the Touws River and that fall into the park. These Lakes are Eilandvlei, Langvlei and Rondevlei.

Eilandvlei is an Afrikaans word which means Island Lake, and the 150 hectare lake gets its name from the Drommedaris Island at its centre. The lake is very popular with tourists and offers various activities. These activities include water skiing on the lake, swimming or simply relaxing on the water's edge. Wilderness Island Lake provides fishermen and canoeists a great hybrid habitat to explore. Further down from the lake, the Serpentine and Touw rivers interconnect to offer the angler another habitat to explore, best done via canoe. Island Lake is renowned for its big leervis, black bass and blue kurper. In the Touw River you'll find large schools of grunter, leervis, cape moonies and mullet. (Fishing permits can be acquired from the local post office.) The lake is also host to a variety of aquatic species and has with the other two lakes been proclaimed as a Ramsar site (wetlands of international importance). Visitors to the area can spot five types of Kingfisher, the Grey Heron and Little Egret and the brightly coloured Knysna Loerie in the surrounding forests.