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| KwaZulu-Natal's first AirBnB caravan at the Hlanathi Resort. |
THE Hlalanathi Drakensberg Resort in the northern part of the Berg
is only the second place in South Africa to install an AirBnB Caravan, after a
resort in the Western Cape.
I thought that was a bit of all right for KZN, but when Jurgens
invited us to test how many bits of all right the experience offers, I had
sudden doubts.
For those who don’t know, AirBnB is a digital noticeboard where
people who are looking for holiday accommodation connect with people who are
looking to rent their homes.
I have no problem there. In fact, when The Redhead allows, I invite
strangers from around the world to visit my house, be they couchsurfers or
bikers.
But this is not a home.
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| Yep, that is a tent. Quietly luring the rains from afar. |
It is a caravan and a tent, right? And I know from dripping
experience that Dave Barry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, was
right when he stated: “It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel
thousands of miles — against prevailing winds — for the opportunity to rain on a
tent.”
Doubly so in the Berg, a place that can — and mostly does — make up
its own weather on the spot to require exactly the opposite of whatever you are
wearing.
Value for money
But priced at ZAR1 600 for two nights for four
people — or ZAR200 per person per night — I could not refuse the deal.
For comparison, only the nearby backpacker lodge
is slightly cheaper — at ZAR195 per person for a twin room.
The Hlalanathi Resort adds to the price the best views over the
Tugela river and it has the Amphitheatre Golf Course.
This challenging nine-holer sets the standard for using indigenous
vegetation on the fairways, and their natural-looking water features attract
enough local bird life to make golf a secondary pursuit on the course for any
twitcher.
I’m told some hard-core hiking trails also lead to waterfalls and
such, but I was much more interested in the sensible 30-minute walk to the
deservedly well-known Tower of Pizza.
For those who don’t want to go out, the resort’s restaurant has a
made-like-mom’s chicken pie that can sate the hunger of even two teenage boys,
and guitarist players get discount.
I am proud to say they now also know how to make Grog — a mix of
hot chocolate, rum and cream that I hope to be remembered by on cold and rainy
nights. In retrospect, I should have used the Penta caravan’s neat little
kitchen to make my own Grog, using the nifty but small metal wine glasses
Jurgens caravans come with these days. But I did not and hence lost the games,
earning myself one of the two camp beds in the tent.
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| When it rains in the Drakensberg (Dragons Mountains) it RAINS. |
Sleeping in a deluge
To give credit where it is due, I was totally
impressed with how dry it was inside the tent, considering the sky outside was
not so much raining as parading upright farm dams over and around our little
camp.
But achieving sleep while a mini-monsoon was being drummed out on
the tight canvas was beyond even the power of Grog. Still, dawn finally arrived
bright and clear, with the Berg showing off her ample Amphitheatre in such an
inviting way I was almost persuaded to go hiking, and was it not for the happy
placing of the play area for children next to the gate, I might still have been
perambulating in them thar mountains — it was that pretty.
So would I do it again?
You bet. This AirBnB caravaning is the best
thing yet for camping sissies like myself and where else can you have a new
caravan parked and ready for your arrival for R200 a head?
Find out more on www.hlalanathi.co.za.
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| The wet camp survival diet: beer, biltong ...and special muffins. |
