The Goal:

To find a place, not too far from Johannesburg, where you can have a peace of mind but also signal to stay in the real world. I also had a couple of other requirements like: self-catering, secluded, has cool activities etc.

Thank you Google

After doing a long long Google search and almost giving up, I found this that had exceptional Google reviews.

The place is called Mamagalie lodge and it is situation somewhere on a dirt road in Mooinooi (close to Rustenburg). Hubby didn’t know of my plans and it was so difficult keeping that secret from him. I just wanted him to have the time of life, rest, and think that I didn’t have anything planned for him after this getaway.

From my first look at this place, I saw that there are different lodges that boast certain cool things about it that each resonated with me. In the end I settled with Serenity lodge based on its pricing, amenities and pics from Google reviews (Thank you Google).

Expectations

When you go on a retreat that’s out of the city, there’s a couple of things that you can expect:

• Mosquitoes (tons and tons of them but I took my citronella oil with),
• Total seclusion (completely had this here),
• Funny-looking bugs, spiders and birds (the flies do not move when being swatted),
• Wild animals (yes and was cool and scary),
• COMPLETE silence (never saw anyone there apart from one garden dude, briefly),
• Weird noises at night (had all the lights on but it was like an episode of man vs nature), AND MOSTLY IMPORTANTLY,
• Your mind is at ease as it is completely secluded and serene.

Apart from being completely paranoid at night (because the bugs don’t sleep), our first night in our isolated lodge was a taste of nature (excluding the running water and electricity). With the sounds of crickets waking us up in the morning, hubby and I headed out for a walk. I don’t know if it was our chilled minds or the bleating sun but our walk lasted a little over 10 minutes before we took a dip in a petite plunge pool. To risk not over heating or getting sun burnt, we stuck to our little lodge which turned our to be the best as we soaked in out giant spa bath and watched movies on my laptop. And when the sun set, we lit up the grill and got ready to feast on some freshly braai’d meat.

Definitely my highlight on this day was watching the wildebeest, baboons and monkeys not too far from our cabin while sipping on some ice cold white wine. That is a memory that will last with me for ages. I literally was so rested that I never noticed the time fly by.

The First night:

Our second night was much more prepared. My mind was at ease, I had a couple more sips of vino and told myself I was being paranoid that there wasn’t secretly a lion or leopard chilling outside my room waiting for me to open. The next morning, after having a peaceful sleep, we left early for what we thought was a 3 kilometer hike which turned out to be a little more.. like 8! With the goal of reaching the rock pools as our motivation, nothing was going to stop us including an ENTIRE ‘herd’ of wildebeest. I wouldn’t have been scared except for the fact that there were babies there meaning the parents would be on high alert. Our walking trail went right through where they were all congregated and from the first sound of us they looked at us. I immediately picked up a rock and in hindsight, I have no idea what that tiny rock would have done to one of those giant angels. I felt pretty stupid after we started approaching them because they immediately got out of the way. They were more afraid of us then I was of them. After climbing over the fence, we were 1 kilometer away from seeing the best that nature has for us in the form of a flowing stream and naturally formed pools when we spotted a troupe of baboons. They are more “closer” to humans so their behaviour would best mimic us at the sight of fear. Luckily, they were just passing our path and we passed them as they went over the hill.

At last, we had reached the rock pools. Because it was a rather dry season, the river was somewhat a stream however, we got to swim in the deeper pool and drink the water (we were told it’s clean so we did and we’re fine today… I think). The walk back was a lot shorter (as they always seem) and we crossed a scared group of springbok and a rather cautious troupe of monkeys.

We passed the owners house just to say our good byes and got a little history of the farm. The lemons we ate in out lodge were actually grown on his farm and we learned that he supplies supermarkets with various fruits and nuts.

What peaked my interest was tasting and buying the wine that the owners wife made. She had made it from the fruit they grow in a small room. I was lucky enough to taste the blackberry or blueberry (not sure which one it was) and the fig wine.

Tasting notes:

From appearance you see that the wine is probably a dessert wine because of its thickness or its ability to stick to the glass just like syrup does. From the taste you can tell they’re unwooded, immature wines that boast great depth and have the potential to compete with some of the great ports. I immediately fell in love with both and bought a bottle of each to share with friends and family.

Conclusion:

If you have an off road car, want to get away from the big city but still have signal to post about your trip, this is the best place to come to. You will receive comprehensive instructions from the owner, great service, excellent security, clean accommodation, privacy privacy privacy and memories that will last you a lifetime. It’s not often that I boast about my travels, however this is one for the record books.

Aren’t I cool for finding wine in Mooinooi?

Here’s some pics of the trip: