There are destinations where camping is the only form of accommodation on offer. Though this is not the case at the Draaihoek Lodge and Restaurant near Elands Bay, their one-party-at-a-time coastal campsite affords such splendid isolation it’s worth roughing it for a bit.
Access to fresh drinking water has always been a challenge on the West Coast, particularly north of Velddrif. Even when boreholes are sunk, the water is brackish or loaded with unpalatable minerals. It’s one of the reasons early shipwrecked sailors on this coast often succumbed to thirst and why European colonists stuck close to any rivers they found on their exploratory journeys north while looking for the fabled riches of Vigiti Magna.
One such explorer was the Swede Olof Bergh, who passed Draaihoek Lodge’s present-day position about 15km to the east in 1682. After crossing the Piketberge, he was following the course of the Sand River (today known as the Verlorenvlei River) when he noticed “a great round rock like a Mohammedan pagoda which lay to the left”.
It’s the same flat-topped koppie (Klein Tafelberg) I’m looking at now. The sun is about to go down, and I’m standing on top of one of the creamy-coloured dunes that surround our campsite, taking in the 180° view of the immaculate coastline. I then turn my gaze east once more, over the tough green bush that leads to the purple layers of mountains framing this enigmatic mountain. Pagoda lookalike or not, the vista is almost a religious experience.
In self-congratulatory mood after our fiddling about with tent poles, pegs and confusing bits of rope resulted in a solid dome tent being erected, we celebrate with a brut rose that complements the palate of an impossibly beautiful sunset. From our sundowner table atop a nearby dune, we’re mesmerised by the glittering wedge of molten copper stretching to the horizon just below the setting sun, before a pod of fin whales blows spray into the foreground while a string of crowned cormorants etch themselves into the dark-orange sky.
Situated midway between the bird havens of Rocherpan and Verlorenvlei, the quantity of seabirds we see on a long beach walk the next day is staggering. The swarm-like flocks of cormorants, seagulls and terns certainly have something to do with the fish shoaling close offshore, something a trawler we saw earlier brought our attention to.
French explorer Francois Le Vaillant first put Verlorenvlei on the avian world map. Le Vaillant was as much a naturalist and ornithologist as he was a bon vivant, and it was on his way back to the Cape from his second Southern African journey in 1784 (he turned around just beyond modern-day Keetmanshoop in Namibia) that he witnessed a good number of the vlei’s 240 bird species and recorded them for posterity.
On an early evening stroll over the fluffy white dunes earlier, we came across a wooden cross planted in the sand among the hardy green succulents. It’s in memory of the farm’s previous owner, Kokkie van Zyl, who we learn later was one of the pioneers of potato farming in this coastal section of the Sandveld. It’s a crop that needs much less water than grain, maize or rice and apparently thrives here year-round, the only such region in SA.
After another lazy day with the 40km white beach to ourselves, we sit under the stars around the braai and wonder how so many citizens have had the courage to leave our wild, beautiful country. On our way to bed, one of the campsite’s motion lights is triggered in the distance and we see a steenbok staring at us before hoofing it into the scrub.
I think of Le Vaillant again when we set off on an unexpected 4x4 game drive into the old Verloren Vlei Coastal, Game & Nature Reserve the next day. Draaihoek Lodge’s recently appointed general manager Andre Nel mentioned this activity to us before we booked into one of the Manor House’s luxury rooms for a “spoil night”, and we jumped at the chance.
For uninitiated Sandvelders, and particularly those travellers who stick to the tar roads and witness the mostly green bush, mountains and sea that make up most of the region’s scenery, it’s probably a stretch to understand how the region got its name. But once you trade the blacktop for any sandy tweespoor track, like the one we’re on now, you quickly learn why Le Vaillant’s wagons often sank in up to their axles.
The 2,000ha game farm portion of Draaihoek is yet to be developed into the well-signposted, tourist-friendly reserve that Nel and the farm’s owners have in mind for the future, but Annette and I are loving the fact we’re one of a few guests that have entered this wild and rustic domain and are enjoying the frisson of not knowing what lies around the next corner.
When we get to the designated stretch of open veld where we were told to expect small herds of eland and gemsbok, we discover a lone bontebok partnered by an emu. But it’s still prime game viewing time, so we head off to find another clearing in the bush further east.
Our enthusiasm is tempered somewhat when the 4x4 lights on our vintage SUV’s dashboard flicker and then go out for good, just as the sun plummets towards the horizon. Luckily it’s only a sensor wire that’s broken and the 4x4 transmission still seems to be operational, but we turn around anyway and start making our way back to the lodge.
En route, a monster male kudu vaults across the track in front of us. It happens so fast all we see is a large grey blur with horns, yet not long after this we bank a solid sighting of some gemsbok scything through the long grass of the open veld we’d given up on earlier.
Game and 4x4-ing boxes ticked, we grind our way through the sand to consummate our dinner date at the lodge’s restaurant; I think I may have the oxtail ragout.
Travel Notes
Getting there: Draaihoek Lodge is 200km from Cape Town via the R27.
What sort of vehicle will I need to do the game drive?: A proper 4x4 with good ground clearance.
What to do here: The secluded lodge is the ideal place to kick back, relax and read. Should you feel restless or energetic, though, try one of the following activities: birdwatching at nearby Rocherpan and Verlorenvlei; a self-drive game-viewing trip through the lodge’s adjacent reserve; ask management to drop you off in Elands Bay and hike the 22km beach back to the lodge; go on a sunset cruise on the Berg River in nearby Velddrif; bring a rod and fish for your supper; swim in the pool or at the beach; and enjoy fine food and local wines at the on-site eatery.
Accommodation options: The lodge offers eight luxury suites, all with their own fireplaces, as well as a large, three-bedroom self-catering Manor House. The Dune campsite is about a kilometre away from the lodge.
Suggested further reading: The Truth in Masquerade: The Adventures of Francois Le Vaillant by Jane Meiring and On Wings of Fire by Lawrence Green.
Best time of year to go: All year round.
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