Location

Rooderandt is situated in the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains and overlooks the beautiful Schoemanshoek Valley, the heart of Oudtshoorn’s tourist district. The distances to Oudtshoorn’s main tourist attractions are as follows:

• Arbeidsgenot: 16 km
• Buffelsdrift Game Reserve: 5 km
• Cango Wildlife: 10 km
• CP Nel Museum: 15 km
• Cango Ostrich Show Farm: 500 m
• Cango Caves: 19 km
• Karusa Wine Tasting: 1 km
• Rust-en-Vrede Waterfall: 35 km
• Swartberg Pass: 30 km
• Wilgewandel Camel Rides: 17 km

Environment

In the true spirit of Rooderandt, its garden is authentically indigenous without feeling puristic or pretentious. The terraces are strewn with typical Karoo plants: spekboom, klapperbos and botterboom, although you do come across the odd fruit tree lane or lavender patch.

Here and there you are surprised by an unexpected relic from the past: a whitewashed clay oven with a Welcome Dover cast iron door, an old-fashioned grain or flour bag scale or a bench vice.

If you walk higher up into the koppies (hills), you find yourself among plakkies, vygies and noem-noem, typical vegetation of the succulent Karoo plant region of which Oudtshoorn forms part.

Rooderandt also boasts a variety of cacti. The garden is a delight for any bird, and the patient birdwatcher can expect to see Cape Robins, bokmakieries, barn owls, sunbirds, African Hoopoes and Bulbuls, among other species.

If you’re lucky, you may even spot a Black Eagle or the elusive African Fish-Eagle that often makes itself heard at sunset.