True Stars
What started out as a hobbity self-catering resort, built to help pay for the restoration of the natural vegetation on a farm near Gansbaai, just grew and grew. First came Garden Lodge and its new-planted fynbos garden and the championing of what was found to be some extremely rare fynbos - then the accolades started to roll in.
They then built an indigenous nursery, followed it with a fynbos and green-gardening school, and finally formed the first biosphere conservancy in the region. International awards for both conservation and tourism soon ensued. It was all so popular they built further accommodation, the much more contemporary-looking Forest Lodge.
Not surprisingly, the awards and accolades multiplied. The true stars are the 'grootbos' — the largest and probably oldest remaining coastal milkwood forest in the Western Cape, with some trees, thought to be as much as 900 years old, and the fynbos. But you'll also get spoiled there.
Find your happy place at Grootbos Nature Reserve, where you can immerse yourself in the beauty of nature between the mountains, the forest a...