Karreekloof since 1881

Why the name Karreekloof? No one really knows, but it could be because of the many Karee trees that grew in the kloof on the farm.

It is a farm rich in history and formed part of the Anglo Boer War. Many famous people’s footsteps lie here. Time can tell many stories they say.

For Karreekloof time is much needed to understand and appreciate every little detail of information. Fortunately, Peter Wright, the previous owner of Karreekloof, who still stays on the farm, shares endless stories, history, and lifelong experiences through his eyes as well as stories told by his father and grandfather. Four generations since 1822 and still stories are being told.

Karreekloof was once a trading store known as Lilienfeld & Wright. Many of the historical experiences may be of interest to the current generations and those to come. Although farming was the primary activity at Karreekloof, trading with Afrikaner cattle, Catalonian donkeys, and black head Persian sheep was as important.

The famous writer Olive Schreiner spent much of her time at Karreekloof writing one of her famous books, The Story of an African Farm. The Boer War, however, brought its hardships and difficulties to Karreekloof. A British officer Lieutenant Logan of Nesbitt’s horse was shot on the farm, which was buried in the small farm cemetery.

On 17 July 1962 former South African President PW Botha visited the farm leaving a letter in which he thanked the family of Karreekloof for their hospitality and kindness. “I hope that it will rain soon so that the farming interests may flourish,” was his wishes to the Wrights. Always interesting to know, that no matter where footsteps are being left, it always leaves a mark of some sort of history. It all depends on how you leave it.

This is why owner Wiaan van der Linde puts in all efforts to keep every little bit of history alive at Karreekloof through the new facelift and a museum – telling the stories of a long time ago.

SAFARI WITH SOUL AWAITS YOU AT WAG ‘N BIETJIE LODGE

AUTHENTICAL MEMORIES

Is not something we have or don’t have!  It’s a practice, a conscious choice of how we want to live.  It is a collection of choices that we have to make every day.  It’s about the choice to be real and honest.  Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

SAFARI WITH SOUL AWAITS YOU AT WAG ‘N BIETJIE LODGE

The vast and arid Northern Cape is a breathtaking landscape that is characterized by its plains with outcroppings of haphazard rock piles. Building your own authentical safari with our extraordinary landscape, hosting some of the most beautiful camel thorn trees and wide open fields.

We offer an unbeatable combination of game drives, walks with skilled trackers and exclusive accommodation in pristine natural surroundings.  Wag ‘n Bietjie is an excellent lodge to experience Africa’s earthy design.  We have a committed relationship to social responsibility programs like supporting injured and orphaned animals, building a school for parents less fortunate to send their kids to local schools and providing of meat to workers and their families.

Nature and its surroundings

For the nature lover, we have beautiful wide open semi-arid savanna fields where you will get lost in with its thorn bushveld, koppies, extraordinary sunsets that only you can describe and relive.  To walk along this landscape and taking a gorgeous panoramic photo of the wildlife and its surroundings.  The more authentic the safari, the more you will enjoy it.

Wag ‘n Bietjie is situated in the Northern Cape and with our known hospitality, we will indulge you with our breathtaking cuisines and traditional desserts.   Taking a seat on the comfortable porch enjoying the silence of the bushveld and a cocktail after a long day looking out on a water hole where waterbuck, nyala, warthog and kudu’s drink is always a special treat.

Wild at heart

While building authentically memories, visit the Wild Heart Rehab center where orphaned and injured animals are treated from all around the country and released into their native habit.
 

Memorable accommodation

 

No matter which season, a lounge with nice fireplace telling endless stories of the day or the need to cool off in the swimming pool, we will help you to keep building on the authentic memories.

“Only the curious have, if they live, a tale worth telling at all” (Alistair Reid)

 

Come and enjoy the freedom of the Northern Cape and its pristine moments and picturesque landscape. Make your journey an authentic one…here at Wag ‘n Bietjie lodge. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Authentic Africa Safari Experiences Can Still Be Found at Wag n Bietjie Lodge

There’s nothing like exceptional wildlife encounters on an authentic safari! It takes you to wild and inaccessible places.

At Wag ‘n Bietjie Lodge with its unique surroundings, wide open spaces of fields and animals roaming freely, is where clients receive a more intimate viewing experience. Awaken your senses and feeding your soul.

Sit back; relax while watching one of the most beautiful sunsets. Enjoy the scenery when the animals such as waterbuck, nyalas, warthog and even kudus come to drink water close by the lodge at the waterhole.

 

PLANTS AND BIRDS

 

While having a nice bush outing enjoy the unique bird and extraordinary plant life. Making it a challenge for the nature experts to identify the fauna and flora and having a great view while you’re at it.

 

HOSPITALITY AND ACTIVITIES

 

Here at Wag ‘n Bietjie we have a generous and friendly treatment for our visitors and guests providing traditional food and drinks while sitting around a nice bush fire. On request, let us arrange a exquisite romantic bush dinner. Take nice game drives with lovely sundowners or sit on the porch and enjoy a cocktail.

Animal lovers can see how a helping hand at the Wild Hearts Rehab centre changes injured or orphaned animals and see how they are re-introduced in their native habitat. Embrace the true connection with nature. At Wild Hearts Rehab center they believe education is an integral component of the anti-poaching effort. Whilst learning about nature, you will also be spoiled with our luxury accommodation and relaxation at the swimming pool or enjoying the lounge area with fire place for the colder nights.

 

TRAVEL EQUALS NEW BEGINNINGS

 

Make Wag ‘n Bietjie your new authentical experience!

 

“African adventure by day and star studded romance by night … let us take you there!”

The Myth of Authentic Travel

For the 21st century traveller, authenticity has become the goal and measure of travel. “Real” travellers avoid expensive attractions, preferring to wander off the “beaten track”. They avoid the “touristy”, wanting to see how the “locals” live. They bemoan tourism and commoditization as “polluting” the culture of a place. “Don’t sell us stuff”, they say, “Give us the ‘real’ thing, the ‘authentic’ experience.”

But what is “authenticity” exactly? As we excavate the term, we find that it is founded on particular ideas of what “culture” is, and should be. And these ideas are shaky.

Robert Shepard, an anthropologist at George Washington University, writes, “What is most commonly referred to as the tourist impact on Others is grounded in the unspoken presumption that these Others at some point in the past have lived in enclosed spaces of cultural purity, protected from outside contamination.” In other words, if tourism is contaminating, there must be something pure to contaminate.

But in reality, there are no untouched and unchanging cultures. The world has always been in interaction. In ancient and medieval times, the Silk Road and sprawling empires (the Romans, the Mongols, the Han). Starting from the 16th century, imperialism, industrialization and globalization. Conquerors, traders, missionaries, adventurers. To say tourism corrupts local culture ignores all the changes that have come before.

CULTURES ARE INTERMESHED, AND EVER-CHANGING. THERE EXIST NEITHER A SPATIAL NOR TEMPORAL BOUNDARY AROUND A CULTURE.

Culture not only changes with time, it also varies within itself in the present. That is to say, culture is heterogeneous, diverse, and hybrid. A country varies hugely within its borders. The city is different from the countryside. The lifestyles of the rich are different from the lifestyles of the poor. The beach-towns are different from the mountain villages. The experiences of one ethnicity are different from the experiences of the other. What authority is able to say what or who gets to exemplify a country?

IT IS BY KNOWING ALL THE DIVERSE THREADS OF THE COUNTRY, NOT SHUNNING ONE FOR THE OTHER, THAT WE GET TO UNDERSTAND IT.

Searching for escape, authenticity and identity: Experiences of ‘lifestyle travelers’

If individuals are seeking „experiences‟ through the vehicles of leisure and tourism, how can researchers begin to understand experiences from a participant perspective? Certainly, this is a complex question that is not satisfied with the simple assumption that individuals seek to escape to authentic experiences. Nonetheless, the theories surrounding escapism and authenticity have been historically relied upon in various attempts to understand participant experiences in leisure and tourism. However, recent post structural approaches have questioned both the possibility of escape and the grounds for authenticity, hoping to bury both of these concepts on the basis of their relativity.

 

Deconstruction has threatened the validity of the meanings and rewards that individuals may perceive in experiences by favoring discourse over subjectivities. The resultant backlash has re-emphasized „self‟, as individual worldviews have been relied upon to re-justify escape as a state of mind and shift the focus of authenticity away from „objectivity‟ and instead towards the authenticity of subjective experiences. With this, movement has come a wealth of research on identity as the notion of searching for a stronger sense of self has gained momentum as a useful tool in understanding leisure and tourism experiences.

 

Existential authenticity

 

Is described as a process of „being in touch with one “sinner self, knowing one’s self, having a sense of one’s own identity and then living in accord with one’s sense of oneself‟

 

Conclusion

 

Modern theories on seeking escapism, authenticity and identity point to each of these concepts as critical in understanding dimensions of tourism and leisure experiences. Although the actual possibility of escape, an objective basis for authenticity and the concept of self have all been subject to deconstruction, the lifestyle travelers in this study seemed to have taken little heed of the supposed „illusion‟ at the basis of their searching efforts. Indeed, the case study has demonstrated that some individuals still seek experiences that allow for feelings of escape and a stronger sense of identity, and that meaning and value may be attached to experiences that provide for these perceptions.

 

Sources:

Cohen, E. (1988) Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research                  15,371– 386.

 

Cohen, E. (1995) Contemporary tourism  trends and challenges: Sustainable authenticity or contrived post-modernity? In R. Butler and D. Pearce Change in Tourism: People, Places, Processes

(pp. 12-29). London: Rout ledge.