Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse - Accommodation in Hermn, Western Cape, South Africa

Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse - an exclusive country lodge on a large farm and nature reserve just over an hour's drive from Cape Town. Bartholomeus Klip is unique. There are only five bedrooms in this small hotel, the original homestead on a large private estate which is both a working wheat and sheep farm and a nature reserve with a spectacular mountain backdrop. Here, in this unexplored region only an hour by car from Cape Town's international airport, you can feel part of the peaceful life of rural South Africa and its clean crisp air and star-filled night skies.Bartholomeus Klip's 10 000 acre fynbos nature reserve is part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, the world's smallest, but the richest in species for its size.

Price: 6

All included

2 doubles 3 twins

Guided morning excursions expose guests to the variety of features associated with a large and diverse farming operation. These include watching sheep dogs working with our flock of over 5000 Merino sheep, observing the skill and speed employed in the shearing of our wool sheep, or visiting the lambing pastures, where if you wait a while, you may see lambs being born. Walk in the fields and experience the cycles of ploughing, fertilising, sowing, harvesting and spraying of the various grain crops grown on the farm or stop in at the dairy and watch the daily milking of the Freisland dairy herd whilst sampling fresh farm milk or home made butter and cream. In addition guests gain an understanding of how large scale commercial farming and long term conservation work together for mutual benefit.

Late afternoon game drives in the well established reserve (over 800 head of game) introduce guests to Black and Blue Wildebeest, Bontebok, Burchell's Zebra, Cape Mountain Zebra, Hartmann's Mountain Zebra, Eland, Gemsbok, Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Grey Rhebok, Duiker and Steenbok. Guided walks in the mountains reveal a superb array of birds, including Fish Eagles, Black Eagles and the endangered Blue Crane, which can be seen in flocks of up to sixty. The Nature Reserve is one of the most ecologically important conservation areas in the country and conserves a unique type of fynbos (Fynbos is the name given the flora of the Western Cape, so diverse that it is considered a floral kingdom of its own.)There is plenty to do in the area too.Windsurfing, boating and canoeing on the huge dam.Walking and hiking in the reserve.Mountain biking.Bird watching.