Nature's Valley, South Africa

Nature's Valley
Nature's Valley with the Tsitsikamma Mountains on the horizon
Nature's Valley Show map of Western Cape Nature's Valley Show map of South Africa Nature's Valley Show map of Africa  Nature's Valley shown within Western Cape
Coordinates: 33°58′50″S 23°33′33″E / 33.98056°S 23.55917°E / -33.98056; 23.55917Coordinates: 33°58′50″S 23°33′33″E / 33.98056°S 23.55917°E / -33.98056; 23.55917
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
District	Eden
Municipality	Bitou
Area
• Total	1.14 km2 (0.44 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	460
• Density	400/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	53.7%
• Coloured	11.5%
• Indian/Asian	2.0%
• White	32.4%
• Other	0.4%
First languages (2011)
• Afrikaans	60.4%
• English	28.9%
• Xhosa	5.7%
• S. Ndebele	2.5%
• Other	2.5%
Postal code (street)	7130
Area code	044

Nature's Valley is a holiday resort and small village on the Garden Route along the southern Cape coast of South Africa. Nature's Valley lies between the Salt River, the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains, the Indian Ocean and the Groot River lagoon. Nature's Valley has a balmy climate and is surrounded by the de Vasselot Nature Reserve which is part of the Tsitsikamma Park, and in turn part of the Garden Route National Park.

Nature's Valley, and the surrounding coastline, was occupied by Old Stone Age or Paleolithic man from 1 million years ago. Paleolithic man lived in the area in caves and under overhangs, collecting food in the tidal zone and hunting for a rich variety of wildlife. Various glacial periods interrupted this coastal occupation. San hunter-gatherers lived in this area from about 10,000 years ago until they were displaced by Khoikhoi herders from the interior.

For a long time travel along the Garden Route parallel to the coastline was impossible, due to the extremely deep and precipitous river gorges blocking all east-west traffic. Charles Collier Michell reported in 1839: "there is no practical way – not even a footpath, from Plettenberg Bay to the Tzitzikamma country". Thomas Bain built a road from George to Knysna, the so-called "Seven Passes Road", which took from 1867 to 1883 to complete. Access to the coastal area which lay further east was possible only via the Langkloof valley, which lies immediately north of the Tsitsikamma Mountains.

Nature's Valley only became easily accessible after Thomas Bain completed the Grootrivier Pass in 1880. He and Captain Christopher Harison (later Conservator of Forests) first explored the route in 1868 to test its feasibility. Harison's interest in the road stemmed from his belief that it could be used to halt the runaway destruction of the forest started by Dutch East India Company woodcutters in 1777 and carried on by their descendants. At the time that Bain and Harison reconnoitred the route, Bain was supervising the construction of no fewer than six passes, so that 10 years would elapse before he could start work on the Groot River Pass. A hundred years later the demands of road transport would dictate the building of a freeway with enormous concrete bridges – a tribute to the skill of engineers, and bringing in its wake considerable collateral damage to the environment.