The most ‘impossible’ tourism attraction in South Africa
Soekershof; Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa may locally be less known but overseas highly acclaimed by botanists/horticulturists of fame. BBC-TV garden program presentor and famous Irish landscaper Diarmuid Gavin described Soekershof as his favorite South African garden in The Sunday Times UK (January 2008) and the Swiss based International Botanists Association recommends its South Africa visiting members Soekershof as one of the four ‘must visit gardens’ in this country (next to Cape Town, Durban and J’burg botanical gardens).
What is so special about Soekershof?
Soekershof, as it is today, draws on the wealth of local history and story-telling folklore. In Soekershof – whose name means Seekers Court – you can explore the original succulent garden of Marthinus Malherbe, who is buried there, and see the oldest cactus in South Africa, which dates from 1910. The succulent gardens of Soekershof houses the largest outdoor succulent plant collection in South Africa (almost 2500 different registered species from all continents); from cute tiny ‘living stones’ to a giant Pachycereus weberii cactus of more than 10 metres high. It’s not a quick stroll through the garden but an interactive exploration in the company of people who want to provide visitors with and enjoyable and inspirational experience. The total surface of the succulent gardens is over 11,000 square metres excluding the own nursery. The cultivation of the plants in both nursery and garden is organically without the use of fertilisers and pesticides, etc.
The quest in the Klaas Voogds Maze (>4 kilometres path length) starts with a stone age movie in a stone age cinema after which visitors have to unraffle the mysteries of a cycling Dutchman and a womanising German. It’s not a maze in the traditional perception; this is a maze of life walking from one story to the other visualised by orietating beacons above the hedges.
Soekershof is not designated for mass tourism but focusses itself on the personal experience of each individual visitor. This too makes this venue fairly unique in a world where tourism attractions increasingly go for the numbers. Soekershof is also certified by Fair Trade in Tourism in South Africa
See also: http://soekershoflandart.wordpress.com and http://soekershofshop.wordpress.com
General website: http://soekershof.com
Blog: http://soekershofwalkabout.blogspot.com
More info and updated pictures: [email protected]
http://soekershof.com (Tel: 023-6264134)
Our latest addition (23 December 2008) is a laminated wooden cactus (made of restpieces) of 250 kilo and >4 metres high:
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