The name translated from Afrikaans, means 'Still Bay', for those people who are charmed by the safety, tranquility and harmony! For almost two hundred Years Stilbaai has grown in favour as a Holiday Destination and Retirement Village. It has long stretches of white sandy Beaches, mild weather and a River which is navigable for 15 km. It has a population of about 4000 permanent residents and also has two villages, Jongensfontein and Melkhoutfontein, within its Boundary.
Stilbaai offers wonderful water-sport facilities including fishing, scuba-diving and lots more as well as other types of sport. In Jongensfontein the Historic little White House serves as a local Museum and information centre. Stilbaai Tourism Bureau houses a Historical exhibition and adjoins a Nature Garden. Visit the 'Jagersbosch Homestead', a National Monument and the headquarters of the well known Jagersbosch Community Care Centre.

This North West Town of Brits, in the the pretty Region of Bonjala Municipality, This Region borders on Gauteng and is surrounded by Citrus Farms. Brits plays an important role in the South African Mining industry: 94% of South Africa's Platinum comes from the Rustenburg and Brits Districts, which together produce more platinum than any other single Area in the World. In addition, there is a large vanadium Mine in the Area too. Hartbeespoort Dam is perched on the slopes of the Magaliesberg Mountains the dam is a hive of water sports and other activities, while Sun City, an oasis in the North West is very near! Pilanesberg National Park, is only an hour's travel from Brits.
The De Wildt Cheetah Centre, which is a major Conservation effort, was established in 1971 with the aim of breeding endangered species. The name was changed in 2010, to the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre. As a tribute to the woman who has devoted her life to the survival of cheetahs and other rare and endangered species. Over the past two decades the Centre's efforts have resulted in the major achievement of breeding what was once a threatened species, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Over the years, nearly 600 cheetah cubs have been born at De Wildt - a dramatic contrast to the days when the cheetah population of South Africa was estimated at a mere 700.

Britstown located in the Northern Cape of South Africa, a small farming town Named after Hans Brits, who accompanied David Livingstone on a venture to the interior and then settled on the Farm;'Gemsbokfontein'. In 1877, an association of local men, headed by T.P. Theron, bought a section of the Farm on which they built a Community centre and a Church.
Soon after the discovery of diamonds at Hopetown and Kimberley, Brits realised that he and his neighbours could earn good money serving the growing traffic along the Diamond Way. So Brits arranged for a Town to be laid out on a portion of his Farm. As a tribute to him it was named Britstown! A private irrigation scheme was started by the Smartt Syndicate in 1885 and liquidated in 1954. The concern built two Dams, planted lucerne and wheat and grazed karakul sheep and Clydesdale horses. The 1961 floods destroyed the Smartt Irrigation Board Dam, rebuilt by the Government in 1964.
The first inhabitants of this Area were the Bushmen, a self-sufficient peoples who depended entirely on the Land for their needs. The Plains teemed with game, so they neither sowed nor kept livestock. Indigenous plants provided a variety of edible bulbs and bark for further nutritional and medicinal requirements! Slowly the Bushmen moved widely through the Karoo. At Places where they sought shelter and rest from their wanderings, the Bushmen left an artistic wealth of rock engravings, telling us what this world was like when it was theirs. The Karoo is renowned for its wealth of Stone Age remains spanning at least half a Million years of human History. Rock art makes up a distinctly visible element of this legacy, and predominantly dates from the last 10 000 years. South Africa's Heritage of Stone Age Art, among the richest in the World, is found in the form of engravings and paintings, found in the Great Karoo!

Blombos Cave is a World-famous Archaeological Site, overlooking the sea and located in a private nature Reserve which is NOT open to the public!

"Archaeologists have uncovered some of the first evidence of symbolism, cognitive thinking and technological advancement, traits used to define modern human behavior."

• This Site was occupied during the Middle Stone Age between 100 0000 and 70 000 Years ago, although earlier occupation may still be identified as the archaeological excavations proceed. The site was first excavated in 1992, it is currently undergoing excavation and it will continue to be excavated possibly for another Decade. Specific findings include: a piece of engraved ochre, which is the first known ochre engraving found in the archaeological record and dated to 75 000 years ago; “the oldest artist’s toolkit”, which is evidence of a 100 000-year-old ochre-processing workshop; “the oldest drawing (or hashtag)” dated to 73 000 years ago and some of the first evidence of body decoration, in the form of perforated shell beads. Blombos Cave was declared a Provincial Heritage Site in 2015 and it is currently on the tentative serial nomination list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. It is expected to be declared a World Heritage Site within the next few years. While the site is closed to the public, the small Blombos Museum of Archaeology in Still Bay offers visitors with the possibility of exploring some of the fascinating findings of this site. The exhibition is in the process of being modernized.

The Knysna Lagoon opens between two massive cliffs, known as The Heads, these stand tall, acting as rugged watchmen over the pristine loveliness of the lagoon. Here, exquisite views of the water surging through the narrowed entrance make for idyllic backdrops to your Garden Route excursion.

Once proclaimed by the British Royal Navy: "to be the most dangerous Harbour entrance in the World!" The Knysna Lagoon is an Estuary supporting the Ecology along the Coastline with its valuable nutrients!

The History of the Knysna Lagoon is very interesting! First discovered in the early 1500's by the Portuguese explorers seeking the sea route to India they named the Area around the Lagoon: "the Outeniquas". From out at sea the Portuguese noticed large columns of smoke emanating from the Forests that could be seen around the Lagoon. On further inspection they discovered that the fires were caused by the local Khoi people who started them to smoke out bees so that they could harvest honey in the hives found in the trees. Seeing, men laden with honey coming out of the forests they named the place, “The Outeniquas”. It was only after the arrival of the Dutch in 1652 that Europeans actually started exploring the hinterland of the Cape. It took until the 1760's for the explorers to reach Knysna. The first permanent settlement in the Area occurred in 1770 when the Farm: 'Melkhoutkraal', which surrounded large parts of the lagoon was allocated to a local farmer by the authorities in the Cape.

Eight years later, Governor Joachim van Plettenberg visited the Area on a journey of discovery and seeing the extent of the Knysna Forests became interested in obtaining supplies of wood for the Cape Colony. The Cape had a shortage of wood as most of the Indigenous trees had been cut down and used for housing and ship building by the Dutch colonists. When George Rex a Timber Merchant, from Cape Town arrived in the Area in 1804 he found that transporting timber by ox wagon was an almost impossible task. He then suggested to the authorities that it might be an idea to transport the timber by sea and commissioned his friend George Callender, to investigate the possibility of shipping timber from Outeniqua to land by sea, using the Knysna lagoon. As his Farm 'Melkhoutkraal' bordered on the Lagoon and he provided the Land, for the Jetties to be built. Up to this point in the History of the lagoon, no large ships had attempted to enter the Knysna lagoon through the two sandstone heads that guarded its entrance so no one knew whether it would be possible to export timber by sea. The first ship to attempt entry was the 188-ton Royal Navy brig; “Emu”, which did so on the 11th February 1817. The attempt was unsuccessful as she ran aground on a submerged rock and had to be beached on a sandbank just inside the mouth of the Lagoon. A few months later in May of 1817, the “Podargus” was sent to rescue the crew and salvage the cargo of the Emu. It became the first ship to successfully enter the Lagoon paving the way for the advancement of the timber Industry in the Area. As a result the timber Industry flourished!