Our Treetop canopy tour experience on the Garden Route

If you or your family love a touch of adventure without the adrenaline overload, the Treetop Canopy Tour is perfect. It’s a great soft adventure excursion in the indigenous forest of the Tsitsikamma, close to the Tsitsikamma National Park.

(But you can also do a similar excursion in the Drakensberg, the Magaliesberg and the Magoebaskloof near Tzaeen.)

So what’s it all about and will you enjoy it? Here’s our more personal take on the trip. . .

In a nutshell, you arrive Storms River village where you are met and given a safety briefing. You are then kitted up with harness, ropes, helmet and take a short 4 x 4 ride to the start of the forest tour.

The tour consists of using ten ziplines to whizz you from one treetop platform to another. The ziplines start quite gently both in terms of degree, descent and length (and thus potential speed) and build up to an impressive 110 metres. The treetop platforms are like giant treehouses, but much higher off the ground than those you ever built as children.

Another attractive feature is that not one single nail has been hammered into the trees. The construction has been build using ropes and pulleys in a very innovative manner.

The treetop canopy tour presses several buttons for me. You are enjoying the stunning beauty of this vast tract of natural forest. And doing something that you don’t normally do! Namely whizzing from one tree to another along a zipline at top speed.

I was also aware that my sons loved seeing their parents (especially their mother) doing something that they wouldn’t expect her to do. . .

However it would be wrong of me to stress the serene, tranquil nature of the forest. Whizzing along at speed in seemingly Tarzanesque style does naturally elicit a couple of involuntary screams and not so involuntary war cries. Indeed my husband and sons had an unacknowledged battle to see who could make the most noise. All very satisfying in a primeval sort of way.

Having said that, the process of getting 6 or 8 people clipped up, sped away and unclipped again at the next tree stop, takes a while… So you do have plenty of time to enjoy the vast forest with its birds, gorgeous trees and inquisitive playful monkeys.

As a family we have enjoyed this excursion in the past. They’ve added a very useful safety function. The safety function enables your guide to slow your descent down if you are coming in too quickly. (Before you had to brake yourself using your hand which was a little scary. And secondly some people were not always the best judge of their own speed. Some still hurtled into the second landing stage… Whilst others braked too much and were left dangling in the middle and had to be pulled in laboriously and rather ungainly!)

Now you brake a little to make the experience enjoyable but safe in the knowledge that your guide would slow you down more at the end if necessary…

Just so you know

On the earlier occasion, my son was only 7 years old and had been very keen beforehand. He had enjoyed a zipline across a small lake on the previous day. Which in hindsight had much less of a safety back-up than the treetop canopy tour which is positively dripping in back-up ropes and paraphernalia! So I was confident that he would enjoy it.

As the various harnesses, ropes, back-up ropes and back-up to back-up ropes were added to his small body, I could see the confidence draining out of him. Perversely the safer the activity became, the less sure of himself he was.

I could see my much-anticipated trip disappearing with an ignominious return to the car. However the guide assured us that he could take Mark in tandem. And even said that this was possible for suddenly scared adults as well! So Mark went with our guide for the first couple of slides and then built up enough confidence to do it solo. Good to know if you have one child who may not be as brave as the others.

On this second occasion, Mark led the way from the start.

Practicalities for the Treetop Canopy Tour

Storms River Village is about an hour’s drive from Plettenberg Bay, allow 1.5 hours from Knysna. Its further than you might think! The whole excursion from arrival to departure takes 3.5 hours including the briefing and the complimentary snack/lunch. It is relatively expensive especially for families but if you time it right then the snack can count as lunch which offsets some of the cost!

As of late 2025/26: The treetop Canopy Tour costs R950 per adult and R75 per child including a snack and drink at the end.

What else to do in the Tsitsikamma area?

It would be a shame to only do this in the area. The turnoff for the Storms River National Park is very close to Storms River Village. This makes for a great combination with the treetop canopy tour as you can enjoy the short 1.5 km walk to the Storms River expansion bridge with its glorious ocean views.

Alternatively on your return, you can stop off at the Crags to visit one several attractions. Such as Monkeyland, the Birds of Eden,  Tenikwa Cheetah sanctuary. And perhaps enjoying some wine-tasting at Bramon wine estate.

Trade city noise for birdsong and laughter

A canopy tour is a rare mix of beauty, laughter, and mild terror — just enough to make you feel gloriously alive.

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“Our Treetop canopy tour experience” was written by Kate of Cedarberg Africa

Kate co-founded Cedarberg Africa in 1995 with her sister Ginny and has lived in South Africa for over 30 years. She’s explored the continent widely — from climbing Kilimanjaro to pioneering self-drive safaris in the 90s — but her most insightful travels have been with her own three children in tow. Having evaluated countless family lodges first-hand, Kate knows exactly what makes a safari seamless, memorable, and genuinely fun for everyone. When not designing tailor-made trips, she can usually be found hiking in the mountains or cycling along the Cape coast.

Cedarberg Africa is an Africa safari specialist focusing on Southern and East Africa for over 30 years. We design tailor-made itineraries which are created around YOUR interests.