Springbuck Lodge (36 km From Graaff-Reinet)

• Graaff-Reinet

It's the end of a long day. The African light is merciless and the weary traveller dreams of someplace welcoming and comfortable to unwind.

But where, in the sun-parched vastness of the Karoo, in the middle of nowhere, can such a place exist?

Discover that place. A place where the rooms are fresh, where the linens are crisp, the pillows plump and welcoming. A place where the thick hush is disturbed only by the gentle nibbling of tortoises on the lawn.

Complete privacy beneath the infinite sweep of African skies.

Although Springbuck Lodge can comfortably accommodate up to six people, during your visit the homestead is exclusively yours. There are three bedrooms, all with en-suite bathrooms, plus a guest toilet. One room has a queen sized bed, with shower, bath, and toilet; the next room has two single beds plus bath and toilet; and the third room has two single beds with a shower and toilet.

Nobody can ruffle the tranquillity of your Karoo experience. Gentle afternoons spent relaxing on the veranda will remain undisturbed by anything more taxing than the slow progress of a tortoise across the lawn, or the muted chattering of Vervet Monkeys in the ancient Ash tree.

Drowsy evenings will be noiseless but for the tiny sounds of Kudu sampling the hedge or the snap of a blazing winter fire in the hearth.

The farm Klipfontein has been in the Parkes family since 1868, and it is the eclectic collection of quality furniture that has been accumulated down the generations which gives Springbuck Lodge its' particular flavour.

Her unerring sense of Karoo hospitality has given hostess Margie Parkes the freedom to combine inherited pieces with contemporary and African style in a setting which needs to be warm and homelike while also satisfying the demands of guests.

Gleaming parquet floors, oak furniture and soothing stone colours tempt the visitor to stay a day, a week, a month!

For the wildlife enthusiast Springbuck lodge has much to offer. The Karoo is popular with both the environmentally aware and the hunter, and guests can do their bird-watching or game-spotting either by foot on a ramble to the farm dam, on a game drive or simply by lazing on the veranda.

Springbuck, wildebeest, gemsbok, kudu and steenbokkies can be seen, as well as many bird species.