Here I am, gobsmacked, at Elandsfontein Private Nature Reserve, about an hour north of Cape Town along the West Coast.
It’s so blimmin’ nice here and I hadn’t expected it. Sonqua Manor - the accommodation on the Elandsfontein reserve - is a full-on safari lodge of the best sort, in an area where good taste is not usually a driving factor. (Nearby lagoon-side Langebaan town is a prime example of bad taste houses in a beautiful setting).
But Sonqua Manor isn’t like that. It’s got safari style in abundance, allowing the gently undulating, fynbos wilderness to take centre stage. Completely open to the view, the lounge and dining areas have no front wall, which forces you to stare out to the low bush and a horizon of blue sky.
There’s a constant hum of insects, frogs, birds and bees, with the occasional antelope, buffalo, zebra or ostrich breaking the blurred outline of the bush. I keep looking up from my screen to admire it and to see what bird is chirping so loudly or whether the leaf-mimicking bug has moved. Then pop! my laptop battery goes - oh what the hell, do I really have to work right now?
