Really Close — A Cheetah Approach

“Just remem­ber they are wild anim­als”, a warn­ing from Rudi, our game ranger, as we dis­em­bark our game vehicle. We’d been track­ing two male Cheetah near the Northern Gate of Sanbona Wildlife Reserve for about an hour and had finally spot­ted them (no pun inten­ded), lay­ing in the brush about 30 metres from the road.

“Stay close,” a reminder. “They’ll let us know once we’re close enough.”

And I’m think­ing, how exactly are they going to do that? And with that we’re off, walk­ing in single file Continued

Montagu's village market – fun filled Saturday mornings

Montagu Market

Heading off to explore the Montagu vil­lage mar­ket on a Saturday morn­ing to grab some break­fast is a stand­ard social affair for Montagu's res­id­ents, judging by the turn-out on a sunny morn­ing in winter. It's also a fun out­ing for vis­it­ors, and a great way to mingle with the townies, if that's your intention.

Everyone is bundled up in coats, scarves and gloves, but it looks as though the day will be fine as the first rays of sun hit the market's venue, Euvrard Park in Bath Street just across the way from the Tourism Information Bureau. There is a real sense of camaraderie as vis­it­ors and loc­als mingle around the foun­tain that forms the centre piece of the glade, filled with gor­geous old trees that in sum­mer serve as shade and in winter add oodles of char­ac­ter to the mar­ket. Continued

Aasvoëlkrans — more than a touch of whimsy in Montagu

Aasvoëlkrans B&B

Let me let you into a secret. Pretty Aasvoëlkrans is really worth your rand. To say that you are  spoilt for choice when it comes to accom­mod­a­tion in Montagu is an under­state­ment. There is so much to choose from that it can get a little con­fus­ing. But if you're after a little bit of lux­ury, with a huge dol­lop of con­trar­i­ness, indi­vidu­al­ity and per­son­al­ity, then this coun­try set­ting B&B is for you.

I have not been exposed to some­thing quite as ori­ginal as Aasvoëlkrans before. Set on an Arabian stud farm just out­side town — Church Street is a mere 10 minutes walk from here — the accom­mod­a­tion is a series of com­pletely indi­vidual and private garden rooms. Each has its own bed­room, en suite bath­room, bal­cony, and a couple their own kit­chenette ... Continued

Barrydale – much to explore

Barrydale

Arriving in Barrydale is like a breath of fresh air. Nothing quite pre­pares you for its uniquely arty bent or pret­ti­ness, other than the fact that people are talk­ing about it. And one soon under­stands why. Barrydale is quirky, home to at least two cob houses, dry shale walls, loads of res­taur­ants, the infam­ous Karoo hotel, a labyrinth, hot springs, a com­munity of both English and Afrikaans speak­ing artists, a fair num­ber of French, German, Spanish and Italian res­id­ents, vine­yards, a group of hand weavers, and views to die for.

The town lies in the lush Tradouw val­ley, at the north­ern end of the Tradouws Pass sur­roun­ded by the Langeberg and Swartberg Mountains, roughly an hour from Montagu. Drive a little way out of town and orch­ards filled with apple, pear, orange, apricot, fig and peach trees dom­in­ate the farm­lands, the odd derel­ict barn or farm build­ing next to a wind­mill a sign that you're in the Karoo and that aver­age sum­mer heat reaches up to Continued

Joubert House — a day in the life of what it was to live in the 1850s

Joubert House

Annette Cilliers is a national treas­ure. Her enthu­si­asm and know­ledge of Joubert House, a house museum and national monu­ment that is like a flash­back to what a home must have looked like on any given day in Montagu in the 1850s, is palp­able. She speaks about the people involved in that period as if they are per­sonal friends of hers, and knows, right down to the floors, how the house was built and why.

There is more of a reason than her interest, of course. There happened a nasty flood in 1981, the same day exactly as the flood of Laingsburg, on the 25^th January, dur­ing which the house was so dam­aged that the muni­cip­al­ity wanted to pull it down. Pictures of the dev­ast­a­tion grace the walls in the room that func­tions as her office, but which must have been the front par­lour of the house – small enough to keep warm dur­ing winter and just inside the front door of the home where one could listen out for vis­it­ors (the 19^th cen­tury ver­sion of tele­vi­sion). Continued

Bella Montagu

Montagu — The Views

Friends of mine were not exag­ger­at­ing when they described Montagu as a Victorian vil­lage, with streets lined with Cape Dutch style monu­ments. The quaint town, set on Route 62, sur­roun­ded by vine­yards, fruit orch­ards and moun­tains is indeed a per­fectly pre­served vil­lage that makes one feel as if you have stepped back in time. Long and Bath streets are riddled with white-washed, thatched roofed and grape-vine stoeped build­ings that dur­ing autumn are rife with red, brown and barely there rendi­tions of the fruit vine that make one itch to stay here forever. Continued

I ♥ Montagu because ...

I ♥ Montagu

Hi, I’m Fida Hess from Mimosa Lodge in Montagu in the Western Cape.
MONTAGU IS BEST KNOWN FOR its Muscadel, Hot Springs and Adventure Sport
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT our great NG Church in Church Street, This is one of the most his­toric streets in Montagu apart from Long Street.
THE BEST PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the hole in the wall (tun­nel) com­ing from Ashton to Montagu in the Cogmanskloof.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the bird sanc­tu­ary where hun­dreds of birds took over 2–3 trees as their homes  ... Continued

Muscadel and potjiekos in Montagu

Montagu

The small town of Montagu is loc­ated on the fam­ous Route 62 within the Klein Karoo region of the Cape. With less than 10 000 per­man­ent inhab­it­ants it non­ethe­less has much to offer the vis­itor. Famed for its hot springs, the town in fact offers an abund­ance of other activ­it­ies and exper­i­ences from adren­aline filled sports such as rock climb­ing to more cul­tured activ­it­ies such as wine tast­ing, and just about everything in between.

The Montagu Market held every Saturday morn­ing in the park oppos­ite the tour­ism bur­eau offers a sampling of local arts, crafts and cuisine, and an oppor­tun­ity to meet and mingle with the friendly locals.

Another local legend in the mak­ing is the tractor trip and potjiekos lunch, in oper­a­tion since 1985, where vis­it­ors are taken by tractor and trailer to the sum­mit of a local moun­tain, and, after admir­ing the view of the town and sur­round­ing farm­lands, are able to sample two local spe­cial­ties: Muscadel and potjiekos ... Continued