I ♥ Citrusdal Because ...

I ♥ Citrusdal

Hi, I’m Anyas from Olifantsrus Farm Guest House and Olifantsrus Self Catering in Citrusdal in the Western Cape.

Citrusdal IS BEST KNOWN FOR being the gate­way to the Cederberg and for its cit­rus fruits of course!

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Wupperthal, a pic­tur­esque mis­sion vil­lage where excel­lent vel­skoen (known through­out the coun­try) are made and tobacco is dried and worked into rolls (roltabak). The other main products of the area are dried fruit, dried beans and rooibos tea. At Christmas time there is a fest­ival of carol singing at the mis­sion and the moun­tains echo to the voices of the people of Wupperthal. This is a place rich in cul­ture, his­tory and hos­pit­al­ity. Continued

The Baths in Citrusdal

The Baths, Citrusdal

We spent a few hours at The Baths in Citrusdal dur­ing December – it’s a huge prop­erty with accom­mod­a­tion and the Baths boasts hot and cold swim­ming pools, rock pools, private baths, hik­ing trails, moun­tain bik­ing and bird watch­ing!  There is also a shop for pur­chas­ing odds and ends and a fully licensed res­taur­ant if you don’t feel up to cook­ing dur­ing your week­end or hol­i­day away.

The his­tory of the baths date way back to 1739 when it was sug­ges­ted that a mil­it­ary post be built on the farm with the warm baths... Continued

De-Lovely and The Grapevine in Citrusdal

De-Lovely

Citrusdal is a sweet little town and what adds to that sweet­ness is a gift shop called De-Lovely and the simply sub­lime The Grapevine cof­fee shop.  Run by a mother and daugh­ter team, De-Lovely and The Grapevine are found next door to each other at 30 Voortrekker Street.

We vis­ited on a scorch­ing hot day (as only the Cederberg can be in late December) and The Grapevine, with its green and white striped decor and white fur­niture was a cool oasis.  I love the long, nar­row framed black­boards down either side of the fire place and the inter­est­ing paint tech­niques on the walls ... Continued

Hebron — an oasis at the pinnacle of the Piekenierskloof pass

Hebron

There is some­thing about trav­el­ling that brings with it an ele­ment of the mundane. I'm talk­ing about that glazed eyes feel­ing one begins to emit after an hour or two in the car so that even when faced with the incred­ible beauty of a pass like the Piekenierskloof, which marks the entrance to the Cederberg and Olifants River Valley (isn't it slightly freaky the way the river flows the wrong way?), and which wends its way down to the town of Citrusdal, you remain slightly impervious.

To call the Piekenierskloof Pass, which links Piketberg with Citrusdal on the N7, stun­ning is to do it a dis­ser­vice. In real­ity it is a series of rather daunt­ing twists and turns that over­look a patch­work quilt of multi-coloured farm fields, beau­ti­ful blue moun­tain ranges in the dis­tance. In days gone by there weren't any wheat fields down  below one, and most of what you see would have been Renosterveld ... Continued

Citrusdal – town of endless citrus orchards

Citrusdal Tourism

Pretty Citrusdal is hot. And it is the height of orange sea­son, so the air is rent with the pun­gence of really sweet cit­rus flowers – no guesses about where the town's name ori­gin­ated as it's sur­roun­ded by cit­rus farms. The little coun­try vil­lage is pop­u­lar with Capetonians, who head out here at any time of the year for week­ends not least because it lies right in the heart of the Cederberg Wilderness on the banks of the Olifants River, but also because it takes but a couple of hours to drive here.

Petrus Smith, who has taken on the Rasta name of Naphtal, which I think means 'green', wears his hair in an astound­ing hat. He is quiet, unas­sum­ing but eager to tell me about his stud­ies in busi­ness that allowed him to take on his pos­i­tion dur­ing the hol­i­days at the local tour­ism office ... Continued

'Kom proe' farm stall — a gem of Citrusdal

'Kom proe' Farm stall

Let me warn you that there are no fewer than five farm stalls as you travel the N7 past Citrusdal, all com­pet­ing for your atten­tion. But if you approach the pop­u­lar little vil­lage with Cape Town behind you, Alex Gordon's 'kom proe' farm stall will prob­ably be the first — you can't help but notice the sign boards placed at stra­tegic inter­vals advert­ising vari­ous fruit and veg.

Actually, it's not offi­cially called 'kom proe'. It hasn't got a name. Not that this wor­ried any of the pass­ers by who stop here by the dozen to sample whatever it is that Oom Alex is selling today. Standing out­side mind­ing our own busi­ness, a noisy truck belch­ing diesel whizzed past hoot­ing, and Alex waved explain­ing that he'd helped the trucker a while back and now every time he passes all and sun­dry are recip­i­ents of his grat­it­ude. Continued

Olifants River Meander

Citrusdal

The Olifant’s River meanders through the val­ley bring­ing life to the sur­round­ing area. Without the water this beau­ti­ful world of green, the heavy fra­grance of the cit­rus groves that greet you as you drive along, the proud farm­ing com­munity with the renowned Groen Vallei wines would cease to exist.

There are many beau­ti­ful vil­lages hid­den away, that offer warm hos­pit­al­ity to vis­it­ors. You can travel around the region for days and days and never get bored.

The majestic Cederberg moun­tain range towers over Citrusdal; the hub of the cit­rus grow­ing industry in South Africa. Only two hours drive from Cape Town ... Continued