Appearances can be deceiving. It’s an old adage but it illustrates a point often overlooked in the travel trade — luxury isn’t worth a dime if it isn’t backed up by great service and hospitality.
So when you come across a destination that offers value for money, friendliness, excellent service and hearty meals, but isn’t competing for a spot in a decor magazine, it can be refreshing.
At least that’s the case at the Magoebaskloof hotel.
Situated at the top of the Magoebaskloof pass, a half-hour drive from Polokwane in Limpopo, the hotel offers an excellent opportunity for couples, families and groups of friends to kick back, relax and enjoy the magnificent surroundings and some fantastic scenery right on their doorstep.
It’s cosy and clean and from check-in to departure, its staff offer levels of friendliness and service that would put some of its higher category colleagues to shame.
The hotel a three-star establishment, so don’t expect begloved doormen stepping out to open your car door for you as you pull in. Instead you’ll get a toothy grin and a warm greeting from the porter who’ll be there as you park to help unload your luggage.
The hotel’s rooms are adequately equipped with en suite bathrooms, televisions, direct-dial telephones, hairdryers and safes, and most rooms face the mountain pass and verdant forest, with views of the valley and the terraced hotel gardens.
The windows all slide open to allow the outside inside, but just watch out for the Samango monkeys, who have become very adept at nipping in and out of opened windows in pursuit of the fruits that are left in the room each day for guests.
The hotel is renowned for its hearty food, and be warned — do not visit Magoebaskloof hotel if you are watching what you eat. The meals are scrumptious, whether it be the full English breakfast experience, the traditional pub fare for lunch or the fabulous à la carte menu in the evenings. Children needn’t worry either as there’s a great kids’ menu available. The atmosphere is marvelous too, and the service top notch.
The hotel offers a business and function venue in the adjacent Dickie Dagge conference room that can handle groups of up to 250 people. There’s also a small beauty treatment facility and curio-cum-knick-knack shop.
The obvious drawcard outside is the view from the pool terrace, which is protected by the sometimes blustery wind by a transparent wind-break, offering sun worshippers the chance to soak up the rays in calm surroundings.
The lounge area is convivial enough, but the hotel is geared more towards active guests who want to explore rather than stay in the hotel itself.
And this is where the hotel comes into its own. It’s an ideal base for birdwatchers in particular, with its prime position on the edge of one of the last remaining expanses of pristine Afro-montane forest in Southern Africa.
It’s an area that is home to the magnificent crowned eagle, seen regularly from the hotel terrace as it soars over the forest canopy below. And there’s the curiously named Narina Trogon, which is a riot of colour with an iridescent green head, back and tail, crimson underparts and silvery white under tail.
With several excellent walking and hiking trails situated within walking distance of the hotel, it pays to get your walking shoes on and get out and about.
The Lesodi trail begins in a grassland area near the hotel (a map is provided in the hotel’s foyer) and can either be reached on foot or via a short drive to the nearby Stanford Heights tea room, where cars can safely be left.
It offers two routes of about an hour and 90 minutes walking time apiece. Boasting sights such as the cathedral tree and a collapsed fig tree known as “the pipe”, the trail is an ideal way for birders and non-ornithologists alike to enjoy the marvels of the forests that surround the hotel.
In fact, keen hikers need not even leave the hotel to enjoy an exhilarating forest walk — a short, but quite steep and sometimes slippery trail runs from just below the pool terrace to the beautiful Doc Stewart waterfall. A good selection of stout and sturdy walking sticks is available for the use of guests as they head off down the trail.
If you are uncertain what to expect on the walking trails, the helpful reception desk staff are more than able to advise you on the range of walks suitable for your level of enjoyment and can put together routes for you if required.
The Magoebaskloof forest is also home to the rare Samango monkey. Similar in appearance to its “cousin” the vervet monkey, the local troop is part of a hotel-based project that aims to protect and sustain it, as well as teach guests more about the monkeys and their habits.
Every morning the monkeys are fed at a specially constructed feeding station on the edge of the forest, a short walk below the hotel’s pool terrace. Guests are invited to join the fun, watching the proceedings from a makeshift viewing hide that has a one-way mirror window.
In addition to walking, birding and monkeys, the area is also well respected by fly-fishermen with trout fishing available at nearby Lakeside.
The picturesque Ebenezer dam, which flows out into the Letaba river, is also a short drive from the hotel and sundowner cruises are available by appointment, as is a tour of the Sapekoe tea estate at Middelkop. Factory tours are run in high season at 11am Tuesday to Saturday, but the estate is open to visitors from 10am to 5pm, seven days a week.
Further afield is the Modjadji cycad forest and, of course, the Kruger National Park, which is 141km away at Phalaborwa.
The Modjadji people have a rich cultural and historical heritage and use the cycad forest as a venue for traditional ceremonies. Famed for their legendary Rain Queen, renowned as the most powerful rainmaker in Southern Africa, the Modja-dji were allegedly the inspiration for F Ryder Haggard’s novel She.
The village of Haenertsburg, a short drive down the breathtaking Magoebaskloof pass, is also steeped in history.
It is named after Carl Ferdinand Haenert, a pioneering German-born farmer who was the first farmer to plant coffee in South Africa.
Haenert was also caught up in the 1871 gold rush, discovering the precious metal in the Houtboschberg in 1877, which sparked a mini gold-rush in the area and led to the founding of the village.
After the rush ended, the village stagnated until a demand for structural timber in the years following World War I kick-started a thriving industry in the surrounding forests.
Today Haenertsberg is becoming a thriving tourism centre, with arts, crafts and fruit and nut plantations attracting visitors from far and wide.
Writer John Buchan made the village his home, and his books, of which Prester John is perhaps the best known, chronicled “the Land of the Silver Mist”.
It’s a beautiful and fascinating area and the Magoebaskloof hotel is the perfect base camp from which to plan your assault on the rich natural and cultural surroundings. It’s the kind of hotel you can really relax in, with a down-to-earth approach. There are no pretences, snobbery or airs and graces, and the result is a home away from home for the whole family.
Yes, the hotel could do with a face-lift here and there, and a few more on-site amenities, but at the end of the day it’s not about looks or how many gym machines you’ve got — it’s about hospitality. And in the hospitality stakes the Magoebaskloof hotel gets a big thumbs up.
The low down
The Magoebaskloof hotel is 390km from Johannesburg, which equates to a four-hour drive, making it ideal as a weekend getaway or midweek break. The room rate is R580 a night for a double room for two people sharing, including English breakfast. Children under 14 sharing a room pay R50 a night, including breakfast, and from 14 to 16 years the rate is R75 a night, including breakfast. There are four family rooms, which include a double bed for the bigs and bunk beds for the littles. Families should request these on making a reservation. Pensioners can avail themselves of a special rate of R218 a person sharing a double room, including breakfast. For more information contact the hotel on (015) 276 4780 or visit www.magoebaskloof.co.za.