After 2 years of travelling through America, Europe and the Himalayas, Alex and Gustav realised the potential of starting a climbers' lodge and facility for instructing mountain skills in Waterval Boven. At the right time, there was a little 3 bedroom house for sale in town.

Built in 1896, this little sandstone blocked house needed a lot of work and after weighing up the options with some good friends, we decided to buy and invest rather than to rent and half-commit.

At first, Alex and Gustav took one room in the house to stay and run the office from. Existing courses and trips were offered while the lodge got renovated slowly to the point where climbers stayed in relative comfort. Things often got out of hand (not entirely) when we slightly over-booked and squashed 18 odd climbers into the only 2 rooms.

At times things were getting a bit small for us. We handled well though and knew something will come up eventually so that we could maybe move our house and office out of the lodge.

Well, this happened a bit quicker than we anticipated when Alex fell pregnant. Quickly the lodge gained another room as we moved into another spot just down the road...

This could not be a long term solution for us: we loved living in the lodge, the location and ambiance suited our life styles and we missed it. Terribly missed it.

With another strike of luck (or destiny) we came upon two semi-detached houses up for sale, just one street up from the lodge.

The potential for recreating the same as our first efforts just fell upon our laps at the very right time. But better. Because in this case bigger is better. The old lodge could only squeeze 16 climbers in (comfortably?). The new place has 8 rooms. Four of these are dedicated for couples or small families. Also built around the late 1800's, we have changed and restored the new lodge to make climbers from everywhere feel comfy and at home.

Climbing magazines, lounges, a huge self-catering kitchen and a fine deck with fire place is what we offer here now. Click here to see pics or pop in and see what it looks like for yourself. -->

The current plans are to continue offering a place to return to after a day of climbing, start a fire, grab a shower, talk about the day out climbing with a cup of tea or drink in hand and plan the days ahead: more climbing, visit other crags in the region, elsewhere in Southern Africa or to rest in leisure - ask us for info.