Grootbos Private Nature Reserve - Review
There are two words you’ll need to get your tongue around if you want to make the most of your time on the west coast of South Africa. The first is Grootbos, the name of the luxury retreat you should stay at. In Afrikaans, groot means big, while bos means bush thicket. The second? Fynbos (fine). “This is one of the six floral kingdoms in the world and the only one that’s contained in one country,” says guide Marna Kritzinger. “It’s also one of the most diverse.”
When amateur botanist Michael Lutzeyer and his family bought the property – just over two hours south of Cape Town – in 1991, he dreamed of creating a green corridor and his 3500- hectare conservancy is now home to honey badgers and porcupines, cape leopards and mongoose. But it’s the flora that truly sets this land apart.
You experience the magic of this ecoenvironment on a two-hour flower safari and you don’t have to be a horticulturist to appreciate hurtling along dirt tracks in the shadow of the 400-million-year-old Cape Fold mountain range, learning about sour-fig succulents that act as fire blankets for tortoises or native geraniums with bright purple “nectar guides” that show= honey bees where to land.
For a little more fauna with your flora, Grootbos has 20 horses in its stables and offers complimentary rides. In the right conditions, a marine tour in Walker Bay promises the chance to see the Big Five – dolphins, African penguins, Cape fur seals, the great white shark and the real star of this region, the Southern right whale.
There are creatures and then there are creature comforts (Grootbos is five-star all the way). Every meal is included and the eggs that accompany your pork-belly bacon and the Fynbos single-blossom honey in your ice-cream support local farmers. You’ll return to your private suite – one of 27, plus two private lodges on the property – to astonishing views of Walker Bay and the ripple of the bush. Fine indeed.
