Fairy Knowe Backpackers

Fairy Knowe Backpackers is nestled in the beautiful Wilderness forest on the border of the South African National Park. The property is one of the oldest properties in Wilderness. It was first owned by the Whites family in the 1800's and was later bought over by the Dumbleton family, who built the main house where the rooms are, in 1874. We have en-suite, family, double, twin and dorm rooms available as well as plenty of forest and open camping space. The house still holds its original architecture, standing beautiful and proud with a morning sun veranda over-looking the slow moving Touws River.

One of the most popular Wilderness hiking trails, the Half-collared Kingfisher trail, starts on our door step. It is a very family and foot friendly walk through the seemingly untouched forest toward a marvelous waterfall where one can swim and relax. More hiking trails like the Pied Kingfisher trail, the Bosduif trail, and the Brown-hooded Kingfisher trail are some of the other trails that are very close to our backpackers.

On the property we have walks in and around the forest and have access to a well kept bird hide, we have a volley ball course, football, we have a fully licensed bar with cocktail happy hours, billiards, foozball, darts, fire area, full moon drum circles, friendly people, good vibes and more magic for you to come experience.

We are also the booking agents for most of the activities and tours to be done in Wilderness which range from Kayaking the Touws River to the waterfall, Canyoning through the epic Wilderness gorges, horse ridding in the forest, paragliding from the Map of Africa, abseiling, quad biking, paintball and much much more.

We run a friendly and open volunteer program where volunteers can stay with us from two weeks up to two months, or longer if we find a special place in your heart. We are looking for friendly, lively and out-going induviduals with well spoken English. Other languages i.e German, dutch, french etc are helpful. Duties will include general assistance in running the backpackers such as: bar duty (with tips if you have the charm :), reception duty, assisting with kayak launches and returns, cooking wonderful meals if you have that foodie touch etc. We are open to individuals who have specialist skills they would like to share with us which will contribute to our backpackers. We offer tented and dorm accommodation, meals, access to most of the activities to be done in Wilderness, and a remarkable South African experience.