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There is a luxury spa of course, walks through the widerness,archery, and cycles if your feel energetic
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After dinner, with fine food and wines, the boma (click to see) beckoned for a bit of relaxed star gazing at upside down constellations
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The evening meal was taken on the hotel restaurant terrace with the mountainside theatrically lit. Approach to the restaurant was across a reflecting pool in front of the bar,and this building was in effect the hotel 'public areas'. It contained the bar, a lounge, a small museum of the locality explaining the 10,000 year old rock painting tradition and lifestyle of the bushman inhabitants of pre-history, and the only screen used for watching DVD's although the whole hotel has a wifi system (free of course) so that those hooked on their laptops or the world wildlife web should not get withdrawal symptoms - unless the withdrawal be into the beauty of the surrounding wilderness.
In the grounds near the lake there is an oil lamp lit boma from which one could watch the bats, owls and look up into the infinite sky of the Southern Hemisphere with its upside down constellations and astonishing velvet darkness. To northern hemisphere eyes from a city where the night sky is blocked by reflected street light, this was the last ultimate piece of theatre, the milky way dusting the sky behind the brighter stars against an orchestral backdrop of chirping insects and pulsating wing beat.
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Where not a suite with a separate lounge rooms are still very large with open fireplaces for cooler nights. Taking two trips into the bush at different times of the day was brilliantly orchestrated (click to see a view)for guests and housekeepers
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Design integration into this total experience was cleverly done. Traditional forms with modern fabrics etc were successfully put together to provide an environment that was all encompassing and comfortable. The little coloratura pieces reinforced the experience of being in Africa, giving a sense of location missing from so many urban hotels. Yet all the touchstones of modern design were here – the only element missing was the television, and it was not missed.
The hotel won the Relais & Châteaux Environment Trophy 2007. In 2008 it won a place in my heart as the most delightful hotel experience I have had, with the cleverest, most satisfying, most guest oriented marriage between operation and design of any hotel I have stayed in.
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Bushmans Kloof
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