Elandsfontein Private Reserve

Elandsfontein Private Reserve

One is not even aware that there is a private game reserve on the far side of the West Coast National Park (to the right, roughly speaking, of the R27, 30 kilometres past the Yzerfontein turnoff, as opposed to the park on the right) from Cape Town. But this is indeed the case. Elandsfontein is a private nature reserve of some 6 000 hectares, only an hour's drive from the Mother City.

It also lays claim to what it calls the 'largest inward relocation of game' in the history of the Western Cape. The reserve is home to buffalo, eland, springbok, kudu, zebra, an abundant bird life - particularly kites, eagle owls and raptors - and tortoises. Its sand dunes reveal a history of not only elephants but also sabre-tooth tigers, who obviously roamed this region in years gone by.

The fossils are what makes this reserve pretty special, and they have a fossil bank on the estate, which houses what is considered the most important middle Pleistocene (200 000 – 800 000 years back) fossil deposit in Southern Africa. But they're not all contained under glass. Fossils of buffalo, huge hyenas, and short-necked giraffe actually lie around on the ground waiting for you to stumble across them.

And as a guest here in the safari lodge you get to go on both nature drives and fossil safaris. Even human artefacts have been discovered in the white dunes of the reserve, offering important clues as to our history. Fynbos is abundant, and because there aren't any predators in the reserve, you have the added bonus of being able to wander through the natural evironment both on foot, and on quad bikes (although these safaris are limited to eight bikes or they might impact the dunes), when not in the open 4x4 landy. The reserve also offers night drives followed by a candlelit dinner.