12 September 2019

Getaway to Magoebaskloof

By In Travel

This is that part of the year where December is just too far and work is taking its toll on you!

Well don’t fear as Magoebaskloof is near, and yes it is really not far at all (From PTA at least), our perception has always been that it is not as accessible for a weekend, but believe us, it is.

 

The drive

 

At around 3h30min of driving from Pretoria (about just as far as Nelspruit), the drive is quite pleasant. It passes through a less travelled part of SA and the roads are not bad at all. Try, however, to avoid it around Easter as you do drive through Moria and we can just imagine the traffic could get really bad.

 

Activities

 

There are loads to do in and around Magoebaskloof, the first thing that should come to mind is the canopy tours. The lush forest between Haenertsburg and Tzaneen is the perfect backdrop for a good old ‘foefieslide’. We however opted for a weekend of pure relaxation (except for a sneaky mountain bike ride) and therefore deliberately forcing us to return again for some tree top excitement. 

The area is a Mountain biker’s heaven, loads of routes through the forest and winding dust roads are loosely documented on a map obtainable from the Cheerio Gardens. It is really beautiful and there are a lot of hills so you won’t have to worry about not getting in enough exercise.

 


To Eat


Eating out is recommended with a few places that come to mind – for a delicious burger and beer head to Zwakala Brewery. They also have live entertainment – have a look at their FB page for more info.

 

 

Mountain cafe @ Blueberry heights is a beautiful and quaint bistro serving mouth-watering meals. We shared some of the tapas, or more accurately, we had the the entire tapas menu and it was fantastic. Be sure to book a space if you know when you will go, we were lucky enough to find a space on the couch in front of the fireplace as all the tables were reserved.

Homemade pies anyone? There are a few places in the running for the best pie honours- Magoebaskloof farmstall and cafe has mini homemade pies and great coffee (best cup we had in town).

We also had a delicious lamb curry pie at Eatery, in the main road – they have many choices on offer and also amazing breads and pastries.

The Iron Crown allegedly has the best pies in town, unfortunately they were closed when we swung by, but also on the list for the next visit.

 

 

Where to stay

 

Our first night was spent in Turaco cottage located at Blueberry heights – it was such a great find. The place is perfect and has a lot of features similar to our home, dating to the mid century era, which we obviously loved. We could see ourselves stay here for a while. We walked to the waterfall, through the woods and saw a few of the very interesting Knysna Turaco birds.

 

The actual reason we went to Magoebaskloof was to stay at Glenogle (we’ve already recommended it for 2 honeymoon couples before we could even get there ourselves). The loft, probably more like the cabin, is amazing – we relaxed properly amongst the pine needle trees for 2 nights and if it wasn’t booked out 8 months in advance we’d probably still be there.

 

 

Any amount of time spent in Magoebaskloof will probably not be enough. We will definitely be back and we can sure recommend you add it high up on your next roadtrip idea list. 

Written by The Louwkuls

a guy, a girl & an old land rover

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