SOUTH AFRICA
wine tasting on the estate. The bubbles were my favourite. By the time it ended, I was already planning my next visit.
My room felt like stepping into another world. The bed was incredibly inviting, the bath perfect for unwinding. Even the bar fridge impressed. Every fridge is stocked with fresh milk sourced from a nearby dairy. I’ d recommend this place to anyone looking for a memorable escape. I even planted a Yellowwood tree and named it‘ Resilience’ because it felt fitting for both the experience and the beautiful surrounds. Hopefully, when I return one day, Resilience will be standing tall, reminding me of the memories made there.
Next up was dinner at the Tsitsikamma Lodge & Spa – a magnificent setting! Candlelight. Good food. Even better conversation. Sometimes it’ s not the big attractions that stick. It’ s sitting around a table with people – laughing, chatting, and realising you are experiencing something you’ ll remember long after the trip is over. And of course, we felt important thanks to Ford. Our bakkie was tagged, meaning no toll gates loomed ahead of us throughout the trip. Amen.
Day Six: Ziplining, Forests And Finding Zen By Day Six you’ d think I would have run out of energy. But no.... Perhaps I simply had no choice. Next up was more ziplining, this time with Canopy Tours. I walked in feeling confident.“ Easy-peasy,” I thought.“ I’ ve already conquered Bloukrans.” Well... The upper-body strength required to move from one station to the next felt very real, and somewhere among the treetops I started questioning every decision that had led me there. But that’ s adventure for you. You’ re by turns scared, pushing yourself or laughing at yourself and your companions – but you keep going. After all that activity, it was time to head to The Fernery Lodge & Spa. You can imagine the miles I’ d already put in, but that Ford Wildtrak seemed to have one message for me:“ Give me more N2!” Arriving at the Fernery felt like stepping into someplace else entirely. The road wound down through dense forest, the light softening and the ocean air cooling as ferns crowded in on every bank and hollow, until the lodge itself appeared, tucked into the hillside as if it had simply grown there. There was no rush to check in—
Plateau Country House
just time enough to stand for a moment and take it all in: the deep, green hush of the forest pressing close on every side, water somewhere below, and that first unmistakable sense that this was somewhere genuinely special. It’ s the kind of arrival that resets you before you’ ve even unpacked. Once we’ d settled in, it was time to explore – a 45-minute walk through the Fernery’ s fynbos and forest trails, led that day by Marius, the lodge manager, who’ d swapped his desk for the trail. A fountain of knowledge and clearly passionate about it all, he took us past ancient yellowwoods and open fynbos slopes down to the Kamma Waterfall where the Sanddrift River cuts through the Salt River Gorge, and toward the Indian Ocean. Every few steps, I’ d shoot another question at him:“ What’ s that?”“ And that plant?”“ What does that do?” He answered straight off the bat every time. The walk became educational without ever feeling like a lecture. It was simply a conversation with someone who genuinely loves what he does.
Still, after all those kilometres, activities and adrenaline, I was so ready for the next stage: the award-winning Forest Fern Wellness Spa, built into the mountainside overlooking the waterfall. It’ s one of just four spas in the country to make South Africa’ s list of most unique spas – good company to be in. I went for twenty minutes of a relaxing back and neck massage in the spa’ s contemporary treatment room, with the sound of falling water doing half the work before the therapist even started. It was Heaven … I died on that table. Sadly, the spa therapist brought me back. Although she did mention that I had quite a lot of tension. My defence? Blame it on my office chair.
Then came dinner, served under a canopy of fairy lights and surrounded by lush greenery that looked like it had been strategically placed for Instagram. If there were
64 | SPRING 2026 • rovesa. co. za