Knysna (pronounced NIZE-nuh or NACE-nah, probably from a Hottentot word meaning "ferns")Volume 6 Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery 1972) is a town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and is part of the Garden Route. It lies 34 degrees south of the equator, and is 72 kilometres east from the town of George on the N2 highway.