Run by Cape Nature, the reserve describes itself on its website as one of the lesser known, which perhaps explained why I had never heard of it before. It is a place to go if you love peace and quiet and don’t mind (or actively enjoy) being out of signal for long periods of time.
We stayed in a modern, very well equipped cabin with a covered deck braai area, which was needed as the reserve gets a lot of rain and quite a lot of it fell while we were there. The rain nourishes the beautiful and ancient forest which Marinda and I got a first taste of on Friday evening when we walked/scrambled to a pretty waterfall.
On Saturday morning we met at the reception (quite a long drive from the cabins and a four-wheel drive vehicle needed) for a walk along one of the forest trails. About 15 of us were there, some staying outside the reserve in some nice farm-stay options.
The walk was good exercise with plenty of uphill. Luckily the rain held off, but it was cloudy and the birds did not feel like showing themselves much. However there was plenty more to see – ancient trees, colourful fungi, flowers, ferns, babbling brooks and sparkling spider webs.
A highlight of the walk was to a grove of Giant Redwoods. Grootvadersbosch was once a forestry station, and during this time many exotic trees were planted, the Redwoods among them. They are over 100 years old and the tallest is 40m high – this would be dwarfed by some in America which have reached over 100m.
Near the end of the trail there is a bird hide which is three storeys high and reached by a ladder; by that time many of us (myself included) did not feel like making the climb and those that did reported that not much more could be seen from that elevation.
You can read a longer report and find the bird list in the November 2024 edition of the Batis (108).