South Africa Eco-Friendly Accommodations

Booking eco-friendly accom­mod­a­tion in South Africa doesn’t mean you have to sac­ri­fice on com­fort (though South Africa does offer a num­ber of camp­ing options should you want to "rough it").

More and more estab­lish­ments in South Africa are adopt­ing eco-friendly prin­ciples on vary­ing scales. Whether sub­scrib­ing to “green val­ues”, “sus­tain­able or respons­ible tour­ism” or going the whole “eco-tourism” hog, you can sup­port accom­mod­a­tion estab­lish­ments that are try­ing to make a dif­fer­ence here in South Africa.

Karkloof Spa (Karkloof, Natal Midlands, KwaZulu Natal)
"At Karkloof Spa we are proud to be cus­todi­ans of an extraordin­ar­ily beau­ti­ful piece of land. It is one which reflects chan­ging moods and col­our palettes, accord­ing to the sea­sons, and which sup­ports a large vari­ety of plants, mam­mals, birds, insects, fish and other creatures. Unfortunately, as is the case with most nat­ural areas, it has fallen vic­tim to encroach­ing plants, most of them alien to this land­scape; and to peri­ods in the past, of over­graz­ing, fre­quent burn­ing and inad­equate envir­on­mental man­age­ment. For the past seven years, two experts in eco­logy and wild­life man­age­ment have provided guid­ance on cor­rect man­age­ment tech­niques. A major com­pon­ent of this man­age­ment has been the removal of alien plants from the prop­erty and it has been most grat­i­fy­ing to exper­i­ence the res­tor­a­tion of indi­gen­ous veget­a­tion which in turn provides ..." Continued

Karkloof Spa, Wellness and Wildlife Retreat, loc­ated just 24 km from Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu Natal's mag­ni­fi­cent Midlands, is a tran­quil but uplift­ing haven for those set­ting out on a jour­ney to well­ness and res­tor­a­tion. It also offers guests an oppor­tun­ity to absorb the sights and sounds of ... more about Karkloof Spa

The Shire Eco-Lodge (Stutterheim, Amatola Region, Eastern Cape)

As refresh­ing as it is unique; an extraordin­ary and truly unique space, cap­tiv­at­ing with its innov­at­ive design and mag­ni­fi­cent forest set­ting. The lux­ury chalets rest on the edge of the indi­gen­ous Xholora forest in the Amatola Mountains, just a stream’s hop from the enchanted home of many rare spe­cies of plants, but­ter­flies and birds, includ­ing the rare Cape Parrot. From nature-loving adven­tur­ous types, to those on busi­ness, The Shire prom­ises to soothe, inspire and reju­ven­ate. We offer either self-catering or B&B accom­mod­a­tion in Stutterheim. Each eleg­ant open-plan chalet con­tains a styl­ish en-suite bath­room and fully equipped kit­chenette, as well as its own braai / barbe­que facilities.

Through the strik­ing curved-glass corner win­dow, you can feel a part of the forest. For the more dar­ing kinds, our two river-side chalets have their own open bush showers where you can soak and steam among the trees Keep a look out for the rare samango mon­keys curi­ously watch­ing from the ... more about The Shire Eco Lodge

Teniqua Treetops (Sedgefield, Garden Route, Western Cape)
"It is not often that one is invited to sleep, eat and wash high up in a wild, indi­gen­ous forest can­opy, sur­roun­ded by moun­tains, bird song, but­ter­flies and, well not much else really. By all accounts a visit here is ‘quietly life-changing’. It is also one of few truly eco-friendly ven­ues. The cre­at­ors of Teniqua Treetops emphas­ise that they have gone to great lengths to pre­serve the peace and quiet of the nat­ural envir­on­ment, have used nat­ural mater­i­als in the con­struc­tion of the tree houses, and have con­cerned them­selves with min­im­ising their energy use and impact on the envir­on­ment. They have incor­por­ated a dry toi­let sys­tem, pipe river water from the Karatara River for wash­ing, whilst drink­ing water is har­ves­ted from rain (both sources are tested and pot­able); they pro­cess their own grey and black water and use no chem­ic­als when wash­ing or clean­ing ..." Continued

Teniqua Treetops invites you to a lux­uri­ous, child– and eco-friendly tree­house hol­i­day hideout. The eight self cater­ing tree­houses are very private and set in acres of pristine indi­gen­ous forest, with com­fort­able ten­ted bed­rooms, fully equipped ... more about Teniqua Treetops

Mosaic Farm (Stanford, Cape Overberg, Western Cape)
"We have cleared more that 200 hec­tares of lagoon front land densely infes­ted with Rooikraans, Port Jackson and Myrtle. This has brought back indi­gen­ous plant, bird, and insect and mam­mal life, and restored the bal­ance of the eco-system. General Manager, Justin Boshoff and Assistant Lodge Manager, Craig Templar, are trained con­ser­va­tion­ists and wild­life guides. Management along with the own­ers, Breese and Kathryn Johnson, are pas­sion­ate about restor­ing our envir­on­ment. Educational activ­it­ies included in a stay at Mosaic Farm focus on the spec­tac­u­lar nat­ural beauty of the Cape Whale Coast and Cape Floral Kingdom, envir­on­mental and com­munity involve­ment and sup­port, many sus­tain­able build­ing prac­tices and an organic veget­able and herb garden ..." Continued

A pop­u­lar guest retreat and 933 ha con­ser­va­tion reserve on the Hermanus Lagoon, bor­der­ing the pristine Whale Coast Walker Bay Beach. Our secluded Lagoon Lodge has 6 private safari style suites. Two cot­tages are avail­able. Activities include whale ... more about Mosaic Farm

Madi a Thavha Mountain Farm Lodge (Louis Trichardt, Soutpansberg, Limpopo)
"We are a Fair Trade in Tourism (FTTSA) cer­ti­fied lodge and we focus espe­cially on sup­port­ing the Venda and Tsonga artists and crafters in the area. We have a large shop at the lodge only selling loc­ally pro­duced arts and crafts. We offer cul­tural tour pro­grammes, cre­at­ive work­shops, vis­its to per­form­ances etc. Artists and crafters stay reg­u­larly at the lodge and we organ­ise inspir­a­tional gath­er­ings and train­ing. Everything is focussed on job cre­ation and giv­ing the artists and crafters access to mar­kets. Our latest ini­ti­at­ive is to estab­lish a mar­ket­ing and sales organ­isa­tion for her­it­age based arts and crafts fro the north of Limpopo. On the green side we recycle our garbage and work on envir­on­mental aware­ness with our employees."

Madi a Thavha, mean­ing “water from the moun­tains”, is set in a beau­ti­ful and quiet val­ley of the lush Soutpansberg moun­tain area of Limpopo, only 10 km drive from the centre of Louis Trichardt. Enjoying farm life and nature, the styl­ish and bright accom­mod­a­tions, and the rich cul­ture ... more about Madi a Thavha Mountain Farm Lodge

Paperbark Bush Retreat (Lydenburg, Highlands Meander, Mpumalanga)
"At Paperbark Bush Retreat we hold the ideals of con­ser­va­tion and respons­ible travel to heart.  We are proud to be 'Carbon Neutral', gen­er­at­ing our own elec­tri­city by solar power, rout­ing river water for irrig­a­tion (and cru­cially return), and have a self-composting sew­er­age facil­ity. The Paperbark Bush Retreat forms part of the Leutla Conservancy and the Staff act­ively par­ti­cip­ate in many research and con­ser­va­tion pro­jects.  Our guests are afforded the oppor­tun­ity to accom­pany Staff and observe these activ­it­ies if they wish, hope­fully gain­ing an insight into real African con­ser­va­tion research. Home of the inter­na­tion­ally recog­nised Ingwe Leopard Project, which offers you an oppor­tun­ity to be part of the his­tory of Leopard Conservation (using innov­at­ive tech­no­logy to con­duct leo­pard and wild­life research — all profits go toward wild­life conservation). "

This large 305 hec­tare estate lies in a secluded hid­den val­ley approx­im­ately 25km from Lydenburg, with indi­gen­ous game, water­falls, moun­tain streams and pools. The views are simply splen­did across the ever-changing bush and along the peaks of the ... more about Paperbark Bush Retreat

The Mountain House (Clovelly, Cape Town False Bay, Western Cape)
"The Mountain House, situ­ated against the slopes of Trappieskop moun­tain in Cape Town, with superb views of the ocean, Silvermine wet­land and up the val­ley over­look­ing Clovelly golf course, was designed and built with ‘eco-consciousness’.  Sandstone excav­ated dur­ing the con­struc­tion was used for the retain­ing walls and the build­ing sits very com­fort­ably, on a min­imal foot­print, in its sur­round­ings.  A rain­wa­ter col­lec­tion sys­tem was installed dur­ing con­struc­tion as well as a solar hot water sys­tem.  Taking inspir­a­tion from the nat­ural fyn­bos of our sur­rounds Miles has estab­lished and main­tains a beau­ti­ful indi­gen­ous garden, attract­ing a pro­lific vari­ety of local bird­life.  Guests have com­men­ted on the peace­ful­ness and tran­quil­lity and you’d have to spend some days here to enjoy and appre­ci­ate it yourself."

Situated in one of the most beau­ti­ful parts of Cape Town. Nestled against the slopes of Trappieskop Mountain, bor­der­ing the Table Mountain National Park, The Mountain House is uniquely designed to take in the most spec­tac­u­lar views. 2 to 4 people can be com­fort­ably ... more about The Mountain House

iKhay­ala­mafu (Monks Cowl, Drakensberg, KwaZulu Natal)
"We are totally green. We gen­er­ate our own power with solar energy and a hydro gen­er­ator. We do not have any Eskom power and no power lines are vis­ible on our prop­erty. We have also erad­ic­ated all alien plant veget­a­tion from our prop­erty (such as pines and wattles). We get fresh moun­tain water from the stream and I try to encour­age city folks to leave their plastic bottles of water at home (it is a bit dif­fi­cult because some­how people can­not believe that un-bottled water is safe to drink). If only they knew how bad all the plastic is for the envir­on­ment they would soon stop."

High in the Monk’s Cowl Reserve of the beau­ti­ful cent­ral Drakensberg Mountains and closer to para­dise than any­where else in the Champagne Valley. Step from your cabin into the Ukhahlamba / Drakensberg World Heritage Site. You will love the seclu­sion and peace ... more about iKhay­ala­mafu

Kololo Game Reserve (Vaalwater, Waterberg, Limpopo)
"On 9 July 2009, Kololo began the con­struc­tion of the new all green chalets. These will set the trend for the rest of Kololo. We will start with imple­ment­ing solar pan­els, solar gey­sers and grey water sys­tems. During this pro­cess and while more funds become avail­able the green resources will be imple­men­ted for the rest of the lodge too. "

Kololo Private Game Reserve (neigh­bour­ing the Big 5 Welgevonden Game Reserve) offers a choice of full board or self cater­ing accom­mod­a­tion in 12 upmar­ket, self-contained chalets posi­tioned in the pristine bushveld. Privacy and relax­a­tion are guar­an­teed ... more about Kololo Game Reserve

Bellevue Guest Lodge (Ramsgate, South Coast, KwaZulu Natal)
"We have rehab­il­it­ated an area of our prop­erty into a Botanical park with over 200 indi­gen­ous tree spe­cies and a vari­ety of hab­it­ats – forest, wet­land, ponds and stream — and home to mag­ni­fi­cent bird life, blue duiker, bush­buck, por­cu­pine, otters, leguaan, genets, mon­keys and the rare tree hyrax. Selection of indi­gen­ous plants for sale. The park also fea­tures an eco-play area with inter­act­ive play appar­atus and edu­ca­tional sig­nage, ideal for kids."

Bellevue Guest Lodge is a charm­ing and com­fort­able retreat, set in 11 hec­tares of lush forest and spa­cious gar­dens. We are situ­ated mid­way between Ramsgate and Southbroom, near safe sandy beaches, spec­tac­u­lar coast­line and mag­ni­fi­cent ... more about Bellevue Guest Lodge

Ocean View House (Camps Bay, Cape Town Atlantic Seaboard, Western Cape)
"We use solar gey­sers and cre­ated a suc­cu­lent garden with a con­stantly grow­ing vari­ety of suc­cu­lents which is not only beau­ti­ful to look at but also very “water-friendly”. Our new whale sign board was installed a month ago. An inform­a­tion sign approx­im­ately 1.2 x 2.5 m in size which gives details about the whales vis­it­ing in our area and how to identify them!"

A lux­uri­ous guest house nestled between the Twelve Apostles moun­tain range and over­look­ing the beau­ti­ful Atlantic Ocean. The rooms and suites, includ­ing the pres­id­en­tial suite, are all sea facing, ensur­ing breath­tak­ing views, par­tic­u­larly of the sun set­ting ... more about Ocean View House.

The Peech (Melrose, Rosebank, Johannesburg)
The Peech Hotel in Rosebank is com­mit­ted to oper­at­ing a sus­tain­able hotel & wants a stay at The Peech to have as small an impact as pos­sible on the envir­on­ment. By renov­at­ing an exist­ing struc­ture and intro­du­cing eco-friendly solu­tions like solar water heat­ing, and grey water recyc­ling, The Peech hopes to set an example for other hotels and indus­tries in South Africa.

The Peech does Green: 90 square meters of green space per hotel guest; solar water heat­ing; grey water recyc­ling; energy-efficient light­ing; double-layer insu­la­tion to reduce heat in sum­mer and heat-loss in winter; eco­lo­gical deter­gents and clean­ing agents; organic herb & veget­able garden sup­ply­ing ingredi­ents for the bis­tro; recyc­ling (as much as is pos­sible in South Africa) — cans, paper, card­board, glass & kit­chen oil. Visit The Peech Hotel

Oudrif (Clanwilliam, Western Cape)
Oudrif is a col­lec­tion of cot­tages built using renew­able resources. The spe­cially chosen sites were leveled by hand with little plant loss or other dam­age. The cot­tages are built of straw bales mak­ing them very well insu­lated and wood for con­struc­tion came from the clear­ing of ali­ens in the area. Doors, win­dows and san­it­ary ware are all recycled from demoli­tion sites. Oudrif has no con­nec­tion to muni­cipal ser­vices, power for light­ing and pump­ing water comes from solar energy and waste water is treated with micro organ­isms and put through a sep­tic tank system.

The site chosen for the build­ing of Oudrif was badly degraded from over graz­ing and erosion. Over time we have been filling in don­gas and rehab­il­it­at­ing the soil and the site is slowly return­ing to its ori­ginal state. During the build­ing pro­cess local labour, some former pris­on­ers and parolees, were used thus trans­fer­ring valu­able skills to them. We now employ staff from the sur­round­ing farms and assist them through train­ing to improve their skills. Our aim at Oudrif is to show that it is pos­sible to decrease our neg­at­ive impact on the earth without sac­ri­fi­cing com­fort. Visit Oudrif

Chartwell Guest House (Umhlanga, KwaZulu Natal)
Chartwell Guest House is an eco-friendly estab­lish­ment. We are doing our bit to reduce energy con­sump­tion and impact on the envir­on­ment but never at the expense of guest com­fort, hygiene or care. All our light bulbs are energy sav­ing, we use heat pumps to heat our water instead of con­ven­tional gey­sers, we catch and store rain water to irrig­ate our mostly indi­gen­ous garden, our food products are free range and organic where pos­sible, we seper­ate and recycle our waste and have a worm­farm for leftovers.

Green Weddings
Thinking about hav­ing your wed­ding in South Africa? You can choose an eco-friendly venue. Wedding Wizz has acquired a very exclus­ive his­tor­ical forest / beach Estate called Forest Hall, nestled in a pris­it­ine indi­gen­ous forest in the Crags near Plettenberg Bay in the Garden Route — all eco friendly with sun energy, recycled water and car­bon foot­print of func­tions bal­anced out with plant­ing of indi­gen­ous trees and sup­ply­ing of cer­ti­fic­ate to verify all.

This is an ever grow­ing list, so accom­mod­a­tion estab­lish­ments please con­tact us with details about how you've gone green, and vis­it­ors please come back often for other eco-friendly accom­mod­a­tion options.

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