Cape Town Getaway Destination: Tides River Lodge in Breede River

Hi weirdos,
I know its been forever since I blogged, I have no excuses besides the fact that I was not motivated to write. We will talk about this in another post but today I am going to tell you about a mini-getaway in Malgas I was invited to in April. It’s only about a 3 hour drive from Cape Town and about 30 minutes away from Swellendam.
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Malgas, a little town that I actually never knew of before this trip, is on the west bank of the Breede River. It is known for having the last hand-driven river pont that is still being used today. A pont or pootoon is a small vehicle ferry people may use to cross a river. The river has a large amount of fish including cob, garrick and spotted grunter and attracts birds such as fish eagles, fish owls, kingfishers and ospreys.

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Pont in Breede River

We were welcomed at the Tides River lodge with friendly hospitable faces and guided through the Cob Cottage which was directly across the river. The cottage had four bedrooms, a main bedroom with an en suite, two single rooms with two single beds each, all upstairs and the other bedroom downstairs. It has three bathrooms, two had tubs which is great because you can have a long bath with wine which I did of course (The bath uses the water from the river). The cottage was fully equipped with everything you would need and it had a pretty rustic look. The best thing was waking up to the wonderful view of the river from the balcony of my bedroom.

Some of the activities that you can participate in are kayaking, a boat ride and fishing at the lodge. You may also jump off the cliff that’s about 7 metres high which you get to by boat (you see the pont here too). Not being too fond of diving, I decided not to jump but the guys did and it looked like such fun!
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There is only one vineyard in Malgas but my oh my is it stunning! The charming Sjinn (pronounced sane) assistant wine maker Charla HaasBroek took us on a tour of the gorgeous vineyard and we tasted their delicious wines along with a carefully curated cheese platter. They use bush vines as their very poor, complex soils encourage a deep root system, low growth and low yield giving rise to intense, complex wines of great individual character. The incredible view of the river along with the mountains in the backdrop truly made this experience unforgettable, thanks to the convivial Charla.
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There is not too much else to do in the area but there are many animals in the area, we saw some ostriches, donkeys and other animals to pet on at the Breede River Trading Post.
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One of the evenings we spent having a braai (actually we just toasted marshmallows) at the cob cottage, watching the sunset then playing board games, Trivial Pursuit and Uno. It’s a good thing they have a fire place so we were warm and cosy. What really caught my eye that night were the massive amount of stars in the sky, you could literally see the entire milky way!
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Jaredincpt & Saraa_m93 (Instagram)

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I love the nature, the fynbos and the peaceful tranquility of being along the river. If you are into fishing, off-roading or you own a boat, this would be the perfect spot for you. Even if you are looking to escape for a while, stay-over on a road-trip or just relax, Tides is a great option.
Tides Lodge has stunning cottages available ranging from R850 and R4500 per night depending on the season, cottage and number of rooms you require, you can book here.
Until next post,
xx Miss Dhanusha
Photography: Tom Falck
Disclaimer: We were invited to stay at Tides River Lodge on a media trip, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. waydeepregnolato

    Omgggg D this place looks MAGICAL😍😍😍😍😍 .. ty for sharing it with US. Loove the pics ..scenery woowπŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰

    1. missdhanusha

      Thank you so much for reading. It’s truly beautiful.

  2. This looks unreal!! seems like the perfect getaway – definitely a place I`d love to visit

    1. missdhanusha

      It’s such a great place to unwind and explore. Thanks for reading

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