Situated at the water’s edge of the Knysna Lagoon, this magnificent 6 Bedroom House, plus 3 sea-facing cottages, offers the very best location on the South African coastline.
South Africa: Exploring the Cango Caves Near Oudtshoorn
South Africa: Exploring the Cango Caves Near Oudtshoorn
🗺️ Leaving the Coast Behind
We had spent a fair chunk of our South African adventure right on the coast, which was, frankly, absolutely brilliant. But every road trip eventually has to turn inland, and ours was no different. Our first inland stop was Oudtshoorn, a town sitting in the Klein Karoo — that long, narrow valley tucked between two great mountain ranges, the Swartberg to the north and the Outeniqua to the south. Oudtshoorn bills itself, with some considerable justification, as the ostrich capital of the world, a claim it has been making since the Victorian era when ostrich feathers were the height of Parisian fashion and local farmers were making fortunes from the flamboyant birds. At its peak in the early 1900s, the ostrich feather trade made Oudtshoorn one of the wealthiest small towns in the entire British Empire, and the grand “feather palaces” — the sandstone mansions built by the nouveau riche farming families — still line several of the town’s streets as a testament to those extraordinary, slightly absurd, glory days. The Klein Karoo itself is a peculiar landscape: a semi-arid valley that somehow manages to feel fertile and lush compared to the true Karoo further north, ringed entirely by mountains that keep it in its own little climatic bubble. Every single road leading into Oudtshoorn follows a mountain pass of one sort or another, which means that no matter which direction you arrive from, you are guaranteed a spectacular and rather dramatic entrance into town.
🏔️ Over the Tradouw Pass
Our route took us over the Tradouw Pass, and if you have never heard of it, that is a genuine shame because it deserves far more attention than it typically gets. The name Tradouw comes from the old Khoi language — specifically from the words meaning “Women’s Path,” which apparently refers to the route traditionally used by Khoi women to cross between the coastal lowlands and the Langeberg Mountains. The pass itself is a 16-kilometre drive that climbs through an altitude range of around 219 metres, winding through scenery that is genuinely, properly rugged and beautiful in the way that only the southern Cape can produce. The pass was originally surveyed and built in the nineteenth century under the supervision of Thomas Bain — son of the legendary Scottish-born road engineer Andrew Geddes Bain, who between them are responsible for more of South Africa’s great mountain passes than any other family in history. Our route also took us through the small town of Ladismith, which sits beneath the distinctively shaped Towerkop peak and is known locally for its dairy produce. We made a very necessary stop at the Parmalat factory shop, which sells cheese at prices that made us feel rather smug, and we bought ourselves a wedge of blue cheese that we proceeded to eat neat — no crackers, no chutney, just cheese — as we drove out of town. Some moments in travel are genuinely memorable. That was one of them.
⛺ The Old Mill Lodge
After what had turned into a rather long and winding day on the road, we finally pulled into our accommodation: the Old Mill Lodge, a four-star guest lodge set on the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains and, rather brilliantly, on a working ostrich farm. We were shown to our luxury tent up on the hill, and the view was, it has to be said, rather good. The Swartberg loomed behind us, the Grobelaaars River wound through the property below, and ostriches wandered about doing whatever ostriches do when they think no one is watching. By the time we arrived we were, to put it diplomatically, absolutely shattered. The Tradouw Pass had been magnificent but the drive had been long, so we did what any sensible couple of a certain age does in that situation: we opened a bottle of red wine, made cheese sandwiches, and called it an evening. It was grey and on the chilly side — the Klein Karoo has proper winters, with temperatures dropping sharply once the sun goes down — and we were quietly delighted to discover that our tent came equipped with a heated blanket. Luxury, under canvas, in the shadow of one of Africa’s great mountain ranges. Honestly, there are worse ways to spend an evening.
🕳️ The Cango Caves: A Brief History
The main reason I had steered us towards Oudtshoorn in the first place — beyond the ostrich farms and the cheese — was to visit the Cango Caves, and they had been on my list for a long time. The Cango Caves are not just the biggest show cave system in Africa; they are also South Africa’s oldest tourist attraction, which is a title they have held for well over two centuries. The caves were formally “discovered” — from a European colonial perspective, at least — in 1780 when a local farmer by the name of Jacobus van Zyl went exploring and found the entrance to what is now the first and most famous section of the system. His name lives on in Van Zyl’s Hall, the first great chamber that all visitors enter to this day. The truth is, of course, that the caves were known to the indigenous San people long before van Zyl turned up with his torch. Archaeological evidence found within the caves shows that San hunter-gatherers used them as shelters and left behind paintings and artefacts — some estimates suggest human occupation of the cave entrance dates back at least 80,000 years, making the Cango Caves one of the longest continuously visited sites in the entire country. The cave system itself was formed over approximately 20 million years from Precambrian limestone — some of the oldest rock on Earth — that was slowly dissolved by mildly acidic rainwater percolating down from the Swartberg above. What makes the Cango Caves geologically unusual, and particularly exciting to geologists, is that the formations should not really exist here at all in quite this form: the extensive faulting of the Swartberg created conditions that allowed an exceptionally complex and extensive system to develop, far beyond what the surface geology alone would suggest. The total known extent of the cave system runs to well over five kilometres, though some researchers believe the full extent could be considerably longer and that large sections remain undiscovered. Visitors today can explore approximately one quarter of the system; the rest is closed to the public for conservation purposes, which, given what we were about to witness inside, seems entirely sensible.
🎟️ The Heritage Tour
We arrived just in time for the ten o’clock Heritage Tour and joined what turned out to be a fairly large group. The Heritage Tour is described in the marketing materials as the “easy” option — the genteel alternative to the Adventure Tour, which involves squeezing through tunnels barely wide enough to fit a reasonably slim person. We want to be clear that “easy” is a relative term. There were a lot of stairs. Quite a lot of stairs. This slowed things down considerably because several members of our group — and we say this with all possible compassion — were finding the stairs rather challenging, which meant we moved at something approaching the pace of a very thoughtful tortoise. Not to worry. We were underground. There was no particular place we needed to be.
As we stepped through the entrance and into the cave proper, we were immediately struck by something unexpected: warmth. Most caves we have visited over the years maintain a cool, sometimes downright chilly, constant temperature year-round — it is part of their charm and the reason you are always told to bring a layer. The Cango Caves are the exception to this rule. The temperature inside hovers at a fairly constant 18 degrees Celsius, which sounds perfectly reasonable until you factor in the humidity, which sits at around 96 per cent. The result is that stepping into Cango feels rather like stepping into a very warm, very enthusiastic greenhouse. It is not unpleasant, exactly, but it is not what you expect, and it takes a moment to adjust to.
🏛️ Van Zyl’s Hall and the Formations
From the entrance, a flight of stairs led us down into Van Zyl’s Hall, named after the farmer who first laid European eyes on it back in 1780, and it is — there is really no other word for it — enormous. The chamber measures 107 metres in length, 54 metres at its widest point, and reaches up to 17 metres in height in places. Standing in it, surrounded by the extraordinary formations that have been growing here for hundreds of thousands of years, it is genuinely difficult to comprehend the timescale involved. Our guide — his western name was Eric, a thoroughly engaging and knowledgeable man — explained the difference between stalactites (which hang down from the ceiling, formed as calcium carbonate deposits from dripping water) and stalagmites (which grow upward from the floor), and introduced us to the named formations that have become the stars of the show. Cleopatra’s Needle is a stalactite column roughly 10 metres high and estimated to be approximately 150,000 years old, which makes it roughly 30 times older than Stonehenge and puts our own fleeting existence into rather humbling perspective. The Organ Pipes are a cluster of stalactites of slightly varying lengths that do indeed resemble the pipes of a church organ. The Ballerina is a delicate formation that, with a certain generosity of imagination, suggests a dancer mid-pirouette. The Frozen Waterfall is exactly what it sounds like: a cascade of flowstone that looks precisely as if someone pressed pause on a waterfall mid-flow and the water simply stopped where it was. Van Zyl’s Hall was once used for public concerts — the acoustics are remarkable, as Eric demonstrated by giving us a full and rather excellent rendition of Qongqothwane, the “click song” made famous internationally by the great Miriam Makeba. The real name is, as Eric cheerfully acknowledged, effectively impossible for most non-Xhosa speakers to pronounce, so Miriam Makeba’s Western audiences called it the Click Song and that name stuck. It is a traditional song of the Xhosa people, typically sung at wedding celebrations, and hearing it performed underground in a 17-metre-high limestone cavern, with the acoustics bouncing the sound off walls that have been here for 20 million years, was genuinely one of those moments that reminds you why travel is worth all the bother. The concerts stopped in the 1970s when it became clear that the vibrations — from both the music and the audience — were causing microscopic damage to the formations, so Eric’s solo performance was as close as we were going to get to the real thing. After finishing his song, he then turned out the lights, plunging the entire chamber into a darkness so complete and absolute that it takes a moment to register as real. No ambient light. No glow from a phone. Nothing. Just the dark that has existed in this chamber for 20 million years.
🤦 The Touching Incident
We do need to mention this, because it upset Karen enormously and, frankly, us both. Eric was very clear at the start of the tour: do not touch the formations. The reason for this is straightforward and has nothing to do with the tour operators being killjoys. The oil and sweat from human hands contaminates the surface of the formations, disrupting the delicate mineral deposition process that has been building these structures for hundreds of thousands of years and leaving permanent dark stains that no amount of cleaning will remove. Some of the formations that were regularly touched by visitors in earlier decades are noticeably discoloured to this day. The rule is simple, the reason is obvious, and Eric explained it clearly. And yet — and we cannot stress this enough — a number of people in our group simply could not resist reaching out and touching the formations as we passed through the corridors and chambers. These were not children. Language was emphatically not the barrier for these particular morons. They simply decided that the rule applied to everyone else. Karen was livid. Quite right too.
🌈 Botha’s Hall, the Rainbow Chamber and Beyond
Moving on from Van Zyl’s Hall, we made our way deeper into the cave system — and yes, it did seem to be getting progressively cooler, or possibly just stuffier and more humid; it was genuinely difficult to tell — through a series of corridors and smaller chambers before arriving at Botha’s Hall, which many people consider the most spectacular of all the chambers. It is certainly the most dramatic in terms of its formations, with enormous columns and flowing curtains of calcite that seem almost too extravagant to be natural. Beyond Botha’s Hall, we passed through the Rainbow Chamber — named for the way the artificial lighting plays through the translucent mineral formations to create a genuine colour effect — and then the Bridal Chamber, a more intimate space with formations delicate enough to feel genuinely precious. The Heritage Tour concluded at the Drum Room, where Eric gave a stirring performance of the South African National Anthem, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, the words of which were written in 1897 by a Xhosa teacher and Methodist lay preacher named Enoch Sontonga. It became a hymn of resistance and hope during the apartheid era and is now one of the most powerful and moving national anthems in the world. Hearing it underground, in a limestone cave that has witnessed 80,000 years of human history, was a fitting way to end the tour. All we had to do then was retrace our steps back to the entrance, which was — mercifully — mostly downhill in terms of stairs.
☕ Oudtshoorn Town: A Brief Investigation
We returned to the Old Mill Lodge for what turned out to be a very necessary snooze and a sandwich. Once suitably restored, we drove into Oudtshoorn itself to see what the town had to offer. In all honesty — and we say this without malice, because the surrounding landscape and the caves more than justify a visit — Oudtshoorn town centre offers a fairly limited afternoon’s entertainment. We found a rather pleasant coffee shop where we had a cappuccino and something in the pastry line that was entirely satisfactory, and we poked around the main shopping area picking up a few essentials. Our exploration was, it must be said, considerably hampered by one of South Africa’s notorious load-shedding episodes — the rolling power cuts that South Africa has been dealing with since the late 2000s as a result of chronic underinvestment in the national electricity grid — which had a fairly predictable effect on the retail environment. Shops with no lights, tills that don’t work, and a general sense that the town had decided to have a quiet afternoon. We took the hint and headed back to the Old Mill Lodge, where we discovered the pool, located just below our tent on the hillside. It was, to put it diplomatically, on the refreshing side temperature-wise. But on a hot Klein Karoo afternoon, refreshing was exactly what was needed, and we spent a very happy hour cooling off before dinner.
Planning Your Visit to Cango Caves
📍 Location | R328, Schoemanshoek Valley, Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, South Africa, 6625
🕖 Opening Times | Daily, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (last tour departs 4:00 PM) | 🌐 Website | cangocaves.co.za
📞 Phone | +27 (0)44 272 7410 | 📧 Email | info@cangocaves.co.za
🎟️ Entry Fees
| Tour Type | Adults | Children (under 18) | Toddlers (under 3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heritage Tour (Standard) | R200 | R100 | Free |
| Adventure Tour (add-on) | R290 | R145 | Not permitted |
ℹ️ Notes
Tours depart on the hour. The Heritage Tour lasts approximately one hour and covers the main chambers. The Adventure Tour adds a further hour of crawling, climbing and squeezing through narrow passages and is not recommended for those with claustrophobia or mobility limitations. Comfortable, closed-toe shoes and loose-fitting clothing are advised. Photography is permitted inside the caves. Booking ahead is recommended during peak season (December and Easter).
🚗 Getting There
The Cango Caves are located approximately 29 kilometres north of Oudtshoorn along the R328 through the Schoemanshoek Valley. From Oudtshoorn town centre, follow the R328 (Cango Caves Road) north — the route is well signposted and the drive takes around 30 minutes through scenic Karoo foothills. There is free on-site parking. Oudtshoorn itself is roughly 55 kilometres east of George along the N12, and around 450 kilometres east of Cape Town via the N2 and R62. No public transport serves the caves directly; taxis and tour operators from Oudtshoorn and George are the most practical options for visitors without their own vehicle.
The Best Time to Visit the Western Cape
The Western Cape operates on a Mediterranean climate cycle that turns the conventional travel-planning logic on its head: summer — December to February — brings long, sun-drenched days and reliably dry weather to Cape Town and the Winelands, while winter — June to August — delivers frontal Atlantic rain to the Cape Peninsula and the Boland. Understanding that rhythm is the most useful thing a visitor can bring to planning a trip, because each season has a strong case to make for itself.
🌸 September to November — Spring
Spring in the Western Cape is widely considered the single best time to visit, and for good reason. The rains of winter tail off, wildflowers — including the famous fynbos and the carpets of Namaqualand daisies visible on the edge of the region — reach their peak, and the first Southern Right whales of the season arrive in the sheltered bays around Hermanus and De Kelders to calve and nurse their young. Temperatures rise steadily through the season, from pleasantly mild in September to warm and energetic by November, with very little of the harsh South-Easter wind that can take the edge off Cape Town in high summer. Prices and crowds are noticeably below their December peak, and the general sense of the landscape coming alive after winter gives the whole region an energy that is difficult to match at any other time of year.
Packing: Light layers for the morning chill, a light waterproof jacket for any leftover winter squalls in September, breathable shirts and trousers for warmer October and November days, comfortable walking shoes for the Winelands and flower routes, and high-SPF sunscreen as the days lengthen.
☀️ December to February — Summer
This is Cape Town at its most confident and most crowded: long days of brilliant sunshine, sea temperatures warm enough for a swim at Clifton or Camps Bay, and a social scene that accelerates noticeably as South African domestic tourists join the international visitors. The Garden Route, Hermanus and the Overberg also hit their stride, and the national parks — Table Mountain, Boulders Beach, Cape Point — are all at their most accessible. The South-Easter, the strong south-easterly wind known locally as the Cape Doctor, is summer’s main characteristic: it scrubs the air clean and keeps temperatures from becoming oppressive, but on its fiercer days it can sweep your towel off Clifton Beach and make dining outdoors feel like an adventure. It is, unsurprisingly, the most expensive time to visit, with accommodation prices peaking between Christmas and mid-January and the main coastal resorts booking out well in advance.
Packing: Lightweight, breathable clothing, swimwear, a wide-brimmed hat, high-SPF reef-safe sunscreen, a windbreaker or light jacket for South-Easter afternoons, sunglasses, and sandals for the beach towns alongside a smarter pair for evenings out.
🍂 March to May — Autumn
Autumn brings some of the Western Cape’s most rewarding travel conditions. The South-Easter relents, temperatures ease to a comfortable 20–26°C and the light softens in a way that makes the Winelands and the Franschhoek Valley particularly beautiful. March and April coincide with the wine harvest, when estates are at their most active and many host harvest festivals, farm stalls and cellar-door tastings that feel more genuine than anything on offer in peak summer. Beaches see a fraction of the December crowds, accommodation rates drop perceptibly, and the Cape Peninsula’s hiking trails are far quieter. By May, the first frontal systems begin moving up from the south Atlantic and the weather becomes more changeable, but autumn, taken as a whole, offers an excellent balance of good conditions and relative quiet.
Packing: Layers that can be added or removed through the day — mornings and evenings cool noticeably by May — a light waterproof jacket, comfortable shoes suitable for walking vineyard paths and coastal trails, and sunscreen for the still-strong autumn sun.
🌧️ June to August — Winter
The Western Cape’s winter is mild by most standards — Cape Town rarely drops below 7 or 8°C even on its coldest nights — but it is emphatically the wet season, with Atlantic frontal systems rolling through every week or so and delivering sustained rain that can last for two or three days at a stretch. The Garden Route receives its heaviest rainfall of the year, some mountain passes close intermittently, and the whale-watching season is only just getting started by August. Against all of that, winter has a compelling case for budget-conscious travellers: hotel rates fall to their lowest, tourist numbers thin dramatically and Cape Town takes on a different, more local character. The wine estates are quiet, the souks of the Bo-Kaap are unhurried, and the Cape Peninsula in moody winter light, with clouds tearing across the top of Table Mountain, can be genuinely dramatic. Boulders Beach penguins remain as obliging as ever regardless of the season, and when the sun does break through between fronts, the clarity of the winter light is remarkable.
Packing: A proper waterproof jacket or rain mac, warm mid-layers for cooler evenings and wet days, waterproof walking shoes or boots, a compact umbrella, and at least one smarter warm layer — restaurants and bars in Cape Town tend to be well heated, but the walk between them is not.
Overall Best Time
September to November offers the most consistently rewarding conditions for the widest range of activities — whale-watching, wildflowers, hiking, wine-tasting and beach days can all be combined in a single itinerary without the peak-season prices or the South-Easter’s unpredictability. Travellers for whom cost and crowd levels matter more than guaranteed sunshine will find autumn, particularly March and April, a close rival: the harvest season adds genuine character to a Winelands visit, the weather remains warm and settled, and the Cape Peninsula feels spacious in a way it never quite does in December. Summer is the obvious choice for those whose priority is beach time and long evenings, provided they book well in advance and come prepared for the wind. Winter alone requires a particular temperament — or a particularly good reason, such as catching the start of the whale season — but for the right traveller, it rewards handsomely.
Where to stay near Cango Caves
1. Old Mill Lodge
The Old Mill Lodge is a 4-star guest lodge sitting on the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains on a working ostrich farm, which gives the whole place a character you simply will not find at your average Premier Inn. Rooms are air-conditioned, several with balconies overlooking the garden, the Grobelaaars River and the mountain range behind. The restaurant serves freshly prepared meals with river views, and the grounds are considerably more entertaining than most, featuring three swimming pools, a zipline, a trampoline, hiking trails, fishing, a bunny and pony park, and boats out on the dam. The luxury tents up on the hill are the ones to go for — ours had a heated blanket, a proper mountain view, and just enough elevation to feel like we were genuinely away from everything. We ate cheese sandwiches and drank red wine and felt enormously pleased with ourselves. Highly recommended.
2. Buffelsdrift Game Lodge
If you want to watch a hippo from your morning coffee, Buffelsdrift Game Lodge is the place to be. The lodge sits in a malaria-free private game reserve with free-standing luxury tents overlooking a wildlife watering hole, backed by the full drama of the Swartberg Mountains. Each tent comes with a private outdoor shower, en-suite bathroom and minibar, and the better ones have a wooden deck right at the water’s edge, where rhinos, giraffes, hippos and various bird species turn up at predictably unpredictable hours. Activities on offer include game drives, night drives, meerkat safaris, elephant excursions, lion feeding and a free-roaming cheetah experience — so there is absolutely no danger of being bored. The on-site à la carte restaurant is considered one of the finest in the Southern Cape, serving Karoo cuisine made from local produce alongside award-winning wines, with the waterhole visible from every table. The Cango Caves are a ten-minute drive away, making this an exceptionally well-positioned base.
3. Mile Bed & Breakfast Guest House
Not everyone wants to fall asleep to the sound of hippos, and for those who prefer something altogether more modest and central, Miles B&B Guest House is a solid choice within Oudtshoorn town itself. It offers four guest rooms decorated in a traditional South African style, all opening onto a shared balcony, and the atmosphere is genuinely home-from-home rather than corporate-hotel-trying-to-feel-like-home, which is a meaningful distinction. The owners clearly take both comfort and service seriously, which goes a long way when you are tired after a long day negotiating mountain passes and cave staircases. The location puts you within easy reach of Oudtshoorn’s restaurants, coffee shops and the handful of ostrich farms that offer tours just outside town. It is not glamorous in the way that Buffelsdrift is glamorous, but it is warm, well run, reasonably priced, and exactly the sort of unpretentious place that makes travelling properly enjoyable rather than merely expensive.
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