Visiting the Garden Route without marking down the joys that one can experience in and around Glentana, would be like visiting Cape Town without paying homage to the great old mountain at the back of the buzzing city!

Glentana lies to the east of Great Brak River, half way and beautifully embedded between Mossel Bay and George. There is no town centre with busy restaurants, shops and cocktail venues etc. For that you will have to drive either to Mossel Bay or George. And that is only 15 minutes away. As is George Airport.

Glentana provides the visitor with something else. Endless days of mild weather and time to once again become the kind of person that you are sure you once were. Long stretches of pure white sandy beaches, rocky coves, an abundance of birds and an ocean that will throw you a variety of colours depending on it’s mood for the day.

Here at Glentana one sits and enjoys the view for long stretches at a time, spending quality time with family and friends, reading the books that have been crowding your book shelves, going for long walks on the beach, taking the occasional dip in the ocean, viewing the river estuary and the dolphins and making the journey along the many posts to watch the whales.

If the above is not appealing, get into a vehicle to go looking for those big beautiful ocean beasts, and one can discover the many joys of magnificent scenery whilst exploring several hiking trails.

One can also go boating on those blue weaving waters or test your skills by playing a round of golf at one of the various courses nearby. Afterwards one can decide to calm down, cool it, and turn your car inland to view the slow pleasures of the Klein Karoo.

Should your drive find you on your way back at Knysna, then you can indulge in the trendy lifestyle for a while without becoming too guilty of such indulgences. You just might, sipping at a good glass of wine in that sinful town, decide that next time through the Karoo, the turning point could be that other Sodom and Gomorra, Plettenberg Bay, that place where all South Africa’s hyper junkies come to chill.

Many things, many ways, but in the end Glentana beckons those who yearn for a slow contemplative lifestyle.

Why is it that the melancholy Dire Straits theme in the movie "Going Home" keeps coming to mind when Glentana sways through your memories?

Wim van der Walt
13 April 2007