This was going to be a time of pursuing every activity on offer in the area. However, on checking into The Gorge Private Game Lodge and Spa, located on the lip of the dramatic Oribi Gorge near Port Shepstone, I quickly back-pedalled.
The visit was, after all, my Mother’s Day treat to my mom, and decorum dictated I should spend time with her and not go haring off. Well, that was my excuse.
The real reason was that our villa, with wall to ceiling windows, provided a spectacular view over the Oribi Gorge and Mzimkulwana River. We were on a level with the soaring raptors, who sailed past regularly on the thermals, and such a scene was irresistible.
What, for me, was extraordinary about The Gorge Game Lodge was being able to decide at what time we wanted our meals served. The lodge promotes “a timeless philosophy” and, let’s face it, not everybody’s stomach rumbles at the same hour, so this concept was very attractive. When we asked for dinner at the somewhat unusual hour of 6pm, nobody batted an eyelid.
What’s more, we didn’t even have to leave the movie-star surrounds of our suite. Guests have the option of dining in the restaurant, or eating in their own villa.
This means extra work for the staff, carrying heavy silver platters up and down the hillside, but the man playing butler to us, Siyeta Ngandu, approached these labours with a huge smile and a cheerful attitude. Nothing was too much trouble to enhance the stay of his guests.
But, with time to kill, guilt gnawed. Should I not at least try just one of Wild Five Adventures’ activities in the area... Perhaps the Wild Swing, at 165m (a 55-storey drop, alongside a waterfall) the highest in the world? Maybe a ride on the zip-line, with views of Lehr’s waterfall and Baboon’s Castle, or abseil down a 110m cliff face, or a bit of white water rafting?
Finally, I settled for something more sedate. We took a drive down into the gorge, followed by nothing more hectic than a visit to the picnic site, and a short, leisurely stroll beside the river. It was food for the soul, but be warned the river is said to house bilharzia.
We passed some mountain bikers, clearly enjoying themselves.
Sturdy hikers were doing their thing; while one little girl was joyfully chasing butterflies. “I promise I won’t hurt their wings,” she called to her mother and father, enjoying a picnic on the grass.
Back at the lodge, I read up the logistics: the five spacious (81m²) villas – with wrap-around balconies and natural rock cladding on the walls to blend with the sandstone cliffs of the gorge – are all built on 14m columns, elevated three to four metres off the ground to minimise the impact on the environment.
Wanting to learn more about the man who would be indulging our tastebuds, I went in search of Deon Kemp, the head chef. A graduate from Christina Martin’s School of Food and Wine, Deon has worked at Sibaya Casino’s Aqua restaurant, Zimbali Lodge, Lynton Hall, and Hotel Izulu in Ballito. I was impressed to learn he had also spent time at North Island in the Seychelles, one of the top hotels of the world (where they follow a no-menu approach to ensure unique dining).
Dinner, served in our villa by candlelight, was delicious: an intense mushroom and truffle soup; melt-off-the-bone lamb shank; a capuccino creme brulee accompanied by a fruit-salad shaped like a miniature tower.
Breakfast the next morning was equally tasty. One unusual offering was corn and haddock cakes with bran and fennel served with sauteed tomato and poached egg.
Always curious about the historical aspect of any place, I delved deeper and discovered that Margate’s Claasen family bought Pengaan farm on the Oribi flats in 1966.
It was hardly for romantic reasons; they needed somewhere to park the heavy duty construction equipment which Derrick Claasen senior used for his road construction business.
By 1973 the family had moved to the farm, and the six children were conveyed to Port Shepstone High School on a daily basis.
Farming consisted of timber, some livestock and sugarcane. In 1995 most of the farm was planted with sugarcane and the last of the livestock sold.
When his siblings moved to the city, only Derrick junior returned to the farm after graduating. Starting with just 30 hectares under sugar, he eventually produced in excess of 10 000 tons of cane per annum.
He began researching essential oils, and managed to raise funds from the government and the EU to build a state-of-the-art nursery on the farm, where tea tree seedlings were cultivated. The aim: to produce a third of the world’s production of tea tree oils.
In 2007, Derrick’s sister, Catharina, resigned from her corporate environment in Johannesburg, to join her brother. The two forged ahead with their plans for an upmarket lodge.
Then Mike Cross, with a passion for gardening, joined the team and a fine indigenous garden enhances the beauty of the five-star lodge, which opened in December 2009.
If chilling in your villa doesn’t wipe away any vestige of stress, the spa on the property could do the trick. Game grazing contentedly adds to the laid-back atmosphere.
Before slipping beneath the bed covers that night, I slid open the balcony door. The murmur of the river was barely audible far below. In the morning, as the mist lifted, the rocks were bathed in early sunlight, and the balcony was the perfect place to enjoy the peace of a new day.
• Contact: The Gorge Private Game Lodge: 039 687 0378; e-mail: [email protected]; website: www.thegorge.co.za
• Wild Five Adventures: 039 687 0253 or 079 798 8584; Web: www.oribigorge.co.za/wild5.html - Sunday Tribune