Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse is a mecca for food lovers in the Drakensberg. It's an intimate, luxury gourmet retreat beside a dam in the beautiful Kamberg Valley, just two hours from Durban in the Highmoor section of Giant’s Castle Nature Reserve. Richard and Mouse Poynton, the owners of this welcoming lodge, are renowned chefs. The menu changes every evening, and according to season and the availability of local produce. Many of the ingredients are picked from the gardens minutes before they are served.
Dinner, which is included, is a sumptuous 5-course affair with no effort or expense spared; breakfasts are unusual and exciting. The lounge and dining-room are cantilevered over the trout-filled dam with magnificent views of the Drakensberg Mountains.The rooms are quirky, comfortable and individual. There are five standard rooms, three luxury suites, an executive suite and two executive cottages. All rooms have magnificent views across the dam to the mountains.
Activities
This is a perfect base for walking, fishing, birding, horse-riding, and relaxing. There are easy walks in Highmoor Nature Reserve, with the majestic sight of Giant’s Castle and Bearded vulture and Black eagle overhead. At the nearby Kamberg Nature Reserve, the caves containing San rock paintings have opened to the public. The lodge organises anthropological tours of the area. At Giant’s Castle, 45 minutes drive away, the rock paintings are more easily accessible; and there are superb walks in the heart of the Drakensberg Mountains.
No children under 12