Nature's Valley is a holiday resort and small village on the Garden Route along the southern Cape coast of South Africa.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In the face of continued pressure to sell a portion of his farm, Barnardo finally relented in 1941 and sold an area of 1.6963 morgen to a syndicate of ten buyers for the sum of £755.

In 2000 researchers from the Albany Museum in Grahamstown discovered a number of aquatic insect species new to science in the Salt River, which lies at the western end of Nature's Valley.

The isolated position of the river, a lack of fish and its acidic and unpolluted water are thought to have been factors in ensuring the undisturbed survival of these primitive forms.