Sewula Gorge Lodge

Sewula Gorge Lodge Hotel / Lodge accommodation in Estcourt Kwazulu Natal

Description

Small, private, intimate and secluded in a gorge below a waterfall within the Rensburg Koppie Natural Heritage Site Easy of access (15 minutes) from the N3 Highway between Estcourt and Mooi River in KwaZulu-Natal Built with discreetly provided modern conveniences and fully serviced to set new standards in relaxed self catering A Bald Ibis nesting colony, a rich variety of indigenous trees, pools and cliffs in the riverbed, various historical sites, a cattle ranch for fishing and cycling and a region offering the Drakensberg, the Midlands Meander, Battlefields as well as sporting opportunities Free of malaria and bilharzia Exclusive use of Lodge. Four separate en-suite sleeping chalets and dramatic main building for up to 8 adults and 10 children.

Sewula is particularly suited to small groups of family or friends or business colleagues who enjoy the informality of self catering with the benefit of helpful staff to wash up and generally assist. To assist you we provide a Provisioning service whereby we send a draft shopping list, which you return, and we do the rest.

Four en-suite cottages with sleeping lofts for children and young people provide beds for 8 adults and 10 children. Three of the cottages are twin-bedded with showers and one is a double with a bath and shower. The rooms are serviced daily.

There is a strikingly designed and comfortable Main Building consisting of a fully equipped modern kitchen, lounge with an open fireplace and dining room with a generous outside deck.

Contact Details Jacquie +27 (0)36 352 2485 +27 (0)36 352 2868 +27 (0)82 824 0329 Enquire now View Rates View Directions

Attractions

if you want to walk, SEWULA offers much. There are clearly marked paths and guides.

• The delightful shaded river walk can be extended by swimming in the rock pools and spending time at the Bald Ibis nesting site
• A fine example of an iron-age (14th Century) 'fortified hill site' is easy of access and immediately behind SEWULA
• Of great interest is the Rensburg Koppie National Monument where in 1838 a small group of Voortrekkers escaped being killed by Zulu soldiers by fleeing to the stony hillock next to the iron-age hill
• There is a steep but gentle walk to an Anglo-Boer War 1899 defensive position with its dry-packed stone 'sangas' clearly visible
• The surrounding cattle ranch offers mountain bike tracks, dam fishing as well as pleasant and easy walks
• If one wants to get into a motorcar then there is a treasure trove of activities. Estcourt town has all sporting facilities, good supermarkets and other services. The Drakensberg is an hour away, as are the Battlefield sites on the Tugela line and the Midlands Meander is reached within half an hour

The Rensburg Spruit is the river cascading past SEWULA and it joins the Bushman's River, which rises in the Giant's Castle area of the Drakensberg, and in whose catchment there have been rich palaeontological, archaeological and historical research done. That includes fossils, early human arrivals such as the stone-age SAN (Bushmen), iron-age man, later migrations of the Bantu-speaking and Afrikaans speaking pastoralists and agriculturalists and then globalisation with the British Empire and industrialisation, are all part of the SEWULA historical tapestry. People have slept at Sewula for a 1000 years.

The good water supply, the abrupt transition from grassveld to thornveld and the security of the rocky hills, made the area a natural place for human settlement. There is the 14th Century iron-age 'fortified hill site', the Rensburg Koppie National Monument recording the 1838 Zulu/Voortrekker clash, the stone remains of the ‘staging post’ on what was the old ‘N3’ where the post carts and other transport would change their mules or horses to speed up their journeys between the Coast and the interior, the Anglo-Boer War defensive positions to protect Estcourt against Boer incursions.

All of these events can be inspected on foot and the longest walk is the thirty minutes to the Anglo-Boer War positions

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