As we hit the road for our adventure to Lekkerwater Beach Lodge, I was gazing out of the window wondering what to expect from this new beach lodge. I’d been locked up for lockdown and my travel barometer was off the charts. It wasn’t just pent-up excitement, I really love surprises and discovering something new.
Lekkerwater Beach Lodge A beach safari 4 hours from Cape Town
Lekkerwater Beach Lodge is situated in De Hoop Nature Reserve, only three and half hours from Cape Town. The name doesn’t roll off the tongue if you are not a local Afrikaans speaker, so here is the slightly tongue-in-cheek phonetic pronunciation: /leh-kr–vah-tr (don’t forget to roll the Rs like a machine gun). Luckily, it’s not called Anemone Lodge – no one can pronounce anemone, not even Nemo.
Lekkerwater, which means ‘good water’, was given its name by Bill Green, the first person to build a home on the site. A keen fisherman, Mr Green named it Lekkerwater not because the water was good and clean and fresh, but rather because the fishing was so good. Today it overlooks a massive Marine Protected Area (MPA) that stretches for 5 km out to sea and 46 km along the coast. The MPA was only established in the 1980s but I’d imagine its protected status has maintained the pristine and natural condition that Mr Green first fell in love with.
The history of Lekkerwater takes a more than interesting turn that wouldn’t be out of place in a Bond movie. The government of the day expropriated Mr Green’s land and home to establish a missile testing base in this secluded and remote part of the world. Yes, you heard me… a missile testing base. When the facility thankfully closed, the site became a retreat for government ministers and their families and was even used by President F.W. de Klerk as his South African ‘Camp David’. No wonder, it’s the ideal place for self-reflection and peaceful contemplation. So much so, as the story goes, that it was at Lekkerwater that President de Klerk decided he would release Nelson Mandela from prison and, in so doing, rewrite the history of South Africa.
But enough history lessons here, we were more interested in the fynbos-infused Gin and Tonics that were served each day on the beach…. and the whales, of course.
De Hoop Nature Reserve is one of Cape Nature’s largest reserves at 34 000 hectares and is famous for Southern Right whales. These beautiful, massive 40-ton mammals migrate here from the Antarctic /ant–ahrk– tik. The whales can be found in large numbers and arrive to breed and calve in the waters surrounding De Hoop. The calves (and some of the guests) come here to fatten up and learn some survival skills. It’s not just a layer of fat the whales need to survive the icy waters of the Antarctic, here they learn to breach, the skilful art required to break through surface ice. Also, believe it or not, they learn how to sail. The tail of a whale is 6 metres wide and when it is extended out of the water in the right direction, the wind can blow these creatures great distances. There is a theory put forward by our colourful guide that these guys hitch a lift on the winds of the cold fronts which blow up from the south all the way to the Cape. Regardless, these lessons make for a great show and endless afternoon viewing.
Billy, our guide, is a real character, a large ex-rugby player with a heart of gold and passion for all things whale and fynbos; he is an absolute specialist on the area and has a superb talent for storytelling.
On the top of a hill overlooking the whales, explained Billy, if we approached over the pass via Franschhoek we would have followed the same path as the elephants that migrated along the coast, leaving the winter rainfall of Western Cape in search of the summer rainfall of the Eastern Cape. What a striking sight that must have been; the biggest land mammal looking down on one of the largest sea mammals. It’s a sad realisation to know those elephants who carved out all of our mountain passes no longer walk this way.
Billy does a marine walk in the morning that I renamed the “beach safari” and a fynbos afternoon walk, which should more seriously be known as the “G&T foraging experience”.
On the beach safari, we got to feel what it’s like to have an abalone squirming in your hand, we saw their beautiful mother-of-pearl shells, tried to coax an octopus from his hiding place, photographed spiny sea stars and watched plough snails hunt on the beach. The very many rock pools were scattered with periwinkles, mussels and oysters and, of course, plenty sea anemone /uh–nem–uh-nee. To top it all off, playing in the waves was a large pod of dolphins. I’ve never experienced a beach with such abundant wildlife, and I felt like a kid again, learning things for the first time and in awe of the natural beauty we were surrounded in.
The fynbos walk was no less fascinating, and I can’t imagine why Fynbos is not a subject taught at school. Our guide gave a stat which I can’t remember clearly (G&T) but it’s along the lines of the Netherlands as a country deriving more revenue from the commercial / medicinal benefit of fynbos than South Africa achieves from all our gold. I’m certain this was a gross exaggeration but he made his point?? Why do we ignore this precious resource?
September is an especially beautiful time of year for this region. It’s the flowering season for so many of the indigenous plants and together with the abundance of whales, you couldn’t paint a more beautiful picture. I hung on every word Billy told us (except for the numbers, I didn’t hang on to those) and after the walk I declared myself a fynbos expert, only to be reminded that this was one of four distinct seasons. Each season has its own unique flowering plants – which can only mean we’ll have to go back four more times this year?
Not to harp on the G&Ts… but what interested me the most, were the plants they used to infuse our drinks, all growing naturally around the lodge: wild sage, wild rosemary, citrus flavoured buchu and my number one favourite, rose-scented pelargonium or geranium. I wasn’t aware that geraniums come from the Cape, were you? These plants have been exported to flower boxes all over the world, from Italy to California.
Lekkerwater is part of the Natural Selection Group, who make it clear that they are all about experience, thrills vs frills. So, city-slicker, you won’t find a telephone, a TV or an AC in your room. Nor do they waste electricity on mini bars – to be honest, that stuff is not important when there is a view from your bed of whales and sunsets and endless seas. We slept with our large patio door open, enjoying the sea breeze and awoke to the sound of crashing waves with the sun as our natural alarm clock.
The lodge is off the grid; they have 99 solar panels and are able to switch over to gas generators when the sun doesn’t shine. There is actually very lekker water, which is from a borehole 150 metres deep and so fresh you can drink it from the tap.
Protecting the environment is clearly an important value too which meant the lodge needed to be built on the footprint of the original home. That means only 6 rooms, and one family unit. The lodge is simply and tastefully decorated with lots of natural wood and shades of blue – it’s exactly how you’d imagine an idyllic beach hideaway.
The chef prepares perfect home cooked meals including freshly baked bread for breakfast lunch and supper. It’s difficult to pop to the shops as the nearest is half a day away and so everything is home-made and delicious. The highlight was the lekker braai, served in potjie pots and cast-iron pans.
The team that hosted us are all safari professionals who have worked all over Africa. We first met managers Liana and Jan at Tubu Tree Lodge in the Okavango Delta and so it was like seeing old friends again. Sometimes you need time to warm to your guide, not Billy, we liked him instantly. The team make you feel right at home kicking off with the ‘welcome home’ greeting you receive as you arrive. The ‘home’ reference, it turns out, stems from the idea that this was the cradle of humankind and that, like geraniums, all Homo Sapiens originated here too.
Home /Lekker–water
Sean Hough "Safari Sean"
Chief Vision Officer
Sean’s a determined dreamer, our CVO, or Chief Vision Officer – the reading glasses are purely coincidental. He’s the big picture guy and it’s his passion for travel that fan the flames of what we do at Hidden Africa.
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