The Gumtree Lodge in Oudtshoorn, South Africa
If you’re heading to Oudtshoorn, South Africa to ride ostriches, explore the Cango Caves, and play with cheetahs, tigers and lemurs, then you should consider staying at The Gumtree Lodge. You would be hard pressed to find a nicer accommodation at such low rates!
Before my sister and I embarked on our Garden Route road trip, we did lots of research while creating our itinerary and asked as many locals as we could: “Where should we go? What should we do? Where should we stay?”
One of our contacts, a friend of a family friend, worked for Walk In Africa. She gave us some wonderful recommendations for various places on our itinerary. The two places she recommended for Oudtshoorn were The Gumtree Lodge and The Hlanga Lodge. We chose Gumtree because the rates were lower (by about half), starting at R390 ($40 USD/€32) per night. We were not disappointed!!
The Gumtree is run by the friendly couple Phil and Linda Putzel, who are proud of and passionate about their B&B operation. Not only do they offer very competitive rates for such a lovely accommodation, but they are truly interested in making your entire visit to Oudtshoorn as enjoyable as humanly possible! They gave us invaluable advice about what sites to see and what companies to use. This helped us efficiently enjoy as much as we could during the short two days/one night we were there.
Phil made sure that we enjoyed a complimentary cocktail by the fire, and we enjoyed a few more with some other guests at the adorably quaint Gumtree bar.
Our room was lovely, spacious, clean, and comfortable. The front porch overlooking a bubbling brook was an added bonus. We definitely took advantage and had some wine on our corner patio at sunset!
The included breakfast was phenomenal. Our senses were overwhelmed with the variety of home-baked breads, spreads, local cheeses, jams, meats, local yogurts, cereals, and anything hot made-to-order (eggs, sausage, bacon). They seriously hit it out of the park! It was amazing!
If you ever find yourself in Oudtshoorn, drop Linda & Phil a line, and reserve your room at The Gumtree Lodge. You will not be sorry!