The Pods at Mount Camdeboo are the Eastern Cape’s most delightful escape in the middle of the vast Karoo wilderness. Not in a tent, but in a luxury pod.
Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve encompasses 13 000 hectares of wilderness in the heart of the malaria-free Great Karoo, where the purest mountain air, cornflower-blue skies and mesmerising views work their therapeutic magic literally within minutes of arriving. At both Eagle’s Flight Pod, overlooking distant mountain peaks, and the Camdeboo Plains Pod, overlooking the famous Plains of Camdeboo (of course), there’s a sense of childhood wonder on arrival.
Beautifully kitted out, these 26m2 wood-and-steel eco pods rest ever so lightly on the earth. And just like the treehouses of childhood, where your imaginary world was a cosy space suspended loftily in the boughs of a tree, The Pods are lined with wood, creating a cosy cocoon. Up here on the mountaintop, they offer a wilder, more remote African wilderness experience with a low fence for protection… after all, the reserve is home to lion, cheetah, elephant and rhino. But for most, it’s the experience of a silence so surreal that it takes a while to adjust to the sounds of nature with not a twinkle of light as far as the eye can see at night.
A bird’s-eye view of the vast Karoo
Each of the pods has a skylight for night-viewing of the starry black skies, while dawn’s rays slowly fill the pod with rose-amber light, streaming in through low windows on either side of the bed. After a day spent on game drives and possibly a thrilling aardvark sighting on the way back, you’ll arrive to a gently heated wood-burning hot tub, and a fire pit aglow in the boma – all perfectly positioned for privacy and views. After a hot day on the plains, an unexpectedly cool evening breeze arrives: the perfect time to climb into the hot tub, relax and savour the memories of this untouched land.
Whether you’re here on honeymoon or a much-needed retreat, once you have spent time in the fabled Plains of Camdeboo, you want to return at least once a year for your fix of fresh air and ‘nothingness’, to a warm and friendly refuge in the wild expanses of the Great Karoo, where nature remains unchanged for millions of years.
It always gives South Africans a pang of nostalgia for a childhood spent on farms where a lone windmill bought with it the water of life, where swimming in the farm reservoir was pure joy, and where afternoons were spent walking to a nearby koppie to watch the sunset. At night, succulent Karoo lamb redolent with the fragrance of aromatic bushes on the farm after a good rain, and the sweetness of baked malva pudding was imprinted on your memory forever. Read her book and you’ll yearn to return time and again… the Karoo has a knack of finding a tender spot in everyone’s heart.
Reviewed by Michelle Snaddon