Knysna Oyster Festival | South Africa's Biggest & Longest Festival

The South Africa Knysna Oyster Festival is the perfect combination of sport, food, and family time. It consists of fun sports challenges, live entertainment, food, and wine stalls.

The festival offers varieties of programmes ranging from sport, gourmet offerings, and family activities, and attracts more than 50 000 visitors to Knysna every year.

The varied programme caters to all ages and interests. The festival is spread across 10 days of winter, which includes two weekends.

It includes walks through the indigenous forests of the Garden Route, swims in the famous Knysna Lagoon, live music, and golf at the award-winning estates.

More than this, there will be murder mystery evenings, live comedy shows, and plenty of opportunities to sample some excellent cuisine and South African wines.

The exciting Knysna Forest Marathon will take runners through the verdant vegetation that makes this part of the world so spectacular. There is a 21 kilometre and a 42 kilometre option, so runners can choose the distance that best suits their fitness and training.

The Knysna Cycle Tour has both a mountain bike and road bike race. There are also shorter bicycle races for families with energetic youngsters.

Children and teens always love the festival, which is hardly surprising considering all of the activities that are designed just for them.

They’ll enjoy the family walks and hikes, and will definitely find something to savour at one (or all) of the many restaurants. But, more than this, they can also look forward to arts, crafts, the IKASI Colour Fun Run (only five kilometres long), face painting, jumping castles, and more.

As its name implies, the famous oysters are a highlight of this event. Taste them plain, “zhoozhed” up, or uniquely prepared. But, taste them.

There is the Hansa Waterfront Rush held at the Knysna waterfront, the Hansa Waterfront Rush is quite a spectacle for viewers and participants.

Those who are brave enough to tackle the course start the race on a platform 24 feet above water, plunging into an over 260 foot slalom kayak course.

From there, participates exit their kayaks and must use a hamster-like device called a Hydro Bronc to effectively walk on water. Then it’s on to a suspended rope course above the water, cumulating in a massive climbing wall.

Oyster Festival is wildly popular and usually booked out months in advance due to popularity. Therefore, if you want to have an experience of this festival, you will need to make early preparations to avoid disappointment.