This large red steel structural design is often where you still find a fisherman dangling his fishing rod from the side while sitting in the shade of a cross beam or some youngsters jumping into the river from its red structural beams, with the sound of bubbling laughter drifting over the otherwise quiet river. It’s here that locals splash around in summer away from the crowded beaches, and enjoy the coolness of the mountain born river

This was the third bridge built over the Knysna River before it became the lone red structure waiting patiently for a visitor. 1916 the low water bridge that crossed the Knysna river was washed away due to floods in region and in 1923 the beautiful Red Bridge with its 46m spans was opened.

The design of its time was forward thinking, completely different to previous designs and positioned upstream on better founding conditions and most probably the reason it’s still standing. But unfortunately, the demand of progress stepped in and it was succeeded in 1955 by the new and wider, concrete bridge, fondly known to us as the White Bridge, which was situated further downstream again. The Red Bridge remained in use by local traffic until 1973 then became a forgotten icon until the initiative was taken to completely refurbished it in 2014.

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