Where to Stay, Play & Stargaze in Sutherland - A Guide to Roggecloof Private Nature Reserve & SALT
Sutherland, four hours north of Cape Town in the Northern Cape, is known as the home of astrotourism in South Africa. Its high altitude and lack of light pollution make it one of the best places in the world for stargazing. This explains why SALT, the Southern African Large Telescope (currently the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere), was built there.
If you are the type of hopeless romantic who’s ever looked up at the night sky and sung “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” or “Somewhere Out There” (#embarrassinglyguilty), it’s probably already on your bucket list.
So, when I was invited to visit Rogge Cloof Private Nature Reserve in Sutherland in August (the dead of winter), I must confess the weather didn’t really appeal to me. (Sutherland is known for being the coldest town in South Africa and I am known for not loving the cold.) But the prospect of seeing the Milky Way as clearly as is possible with the naked eye (the winter months provide the clearest nights for stargazing) was all the temptation I needed to abandon my electric blanket and venture into a frigid "dark sky reserve.”
It turns out that not only are the stars definitely worth braving the cold, but there’s actually a lot more to this place than just what’s above your head.
Here’s my guide to Sutherland, a town where you go for the sky but even the ground can blow you away:
Where to Stay in Sutherland
Stargazing Accommodation: Rogge Cloof Private Nature Reserve
Considering the small town of Sutherland has fewer than 4000 residents, light pollution wasn’t exactly a major issue to begin with. But when our accommodation at Rogge Cloof Eco-Village was an additional 12 kilometres into the Rogge Cloof Private Nature Reserve from the entrance, it was abundantly clear (pardon the pun) why this place is referred to as a “dark sky reserve”.
Here, the relatively desolate landscape stretches on and on and a sense of calm washes over you. In fact, they say that even seismologically, Sutherland is one of the calmest places on Earth.
What’s definitely not calm is the springboks, which can be seen leaping all over the place. And while they are cool, especially when they seem to spring vertically off all four legs at the same time, I still maintain that the dassie should be our national animal. (If this is your first time reading the Sharonicles, welcome. This topic comes up a lot!)
Rogge Cloof Eco-Village
We stayed in one of the new Orion Suites at the Rogge Cloof Eco-Village.
These open-plan suites are elegantly decorated and designed to be as sustainable as possible. The owners, Heike & Otto, have used borehole water, solar power, and recycled materials to build and maintain the village. In addition to the solar power, gas is used to heat the water and a fireplace can be used to heat the room on chilly nights.
It is part of the Cape Country Routes, a group of quality owner-operated and managed accommodation and activity establishments. The owner-run factor definitely makes the hospitality here seem more personal, and you get a good sense of the effort they go to to serve the guests and protect the environment.
The eight Orion Suites are perfect for couples or solos (hi!) and fully catered for, but they do also have self-catering options that can accommodate families and larger groups.
Dining at Rogge Cloof: Rittersaal Dining Hall
If you stay in one of the Orion Suites, dinner and breakfast are included in your stay. A short walk from your suite, the Rittersaal Dining Hall is in a restored historical farmhouse, dating back to the late 1700s. It feels a bit like a Viking mead hall, but with buck skulls instead of moose trophies on the walls. It serves as a guest dining hall, not a restaurant, operating at fixed times with set menus, but the food is fantastic!
Apart from the obviously delicious fresh crispy pizza from the pizza oven, other meals I ate here included springbok fillet served with pomme dauphine, butternut soup with croutons, and malva pudding with custard. The hash browns topped with sliced beef as a pre-starter were beyond delicious. I also love a good peppermint tart like the one we had on the last night.
The building is also home to a beautiful sunroom where you can take shelter from the chilly wind, relax with a book as the sunshine warms your bones, and try not to fall asleep in front of strangers with your mouth open. There is also an outside patio/‘stoep,’ for outdoor dining and gatherings around a bonfire.
Stargazing in Sutherland
As we have established, Rogge Cloof is one of the most ideal spots for stargazing in South Africa and winter is the best time for stargazing, and so on the first night we were there, when I looked up at the night sky and saw a thin cloud blocking my view of the stars, I was a bit disappointed.
That was until I realised that that was not in fact a cloud but the Milky Way itself. I could see so many stars in a dense cluster that I literally confused them with a cloud. It took my breath away.
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| Image: provided |
We participated in a more formal stargazing activity after dinner. We met at Rogge Cloof’s wine cellar building for a briefing that included a video presentation. After learning a bit more about the stars, we stepped outside where two fancy telescopes had been set up and our hosts managed to hunt down different constellations.
We all took turns looking through the telescopes and managed to see:
- Alpha Centauri A & B - Two stars rotating around each other thousands of light-years away, as if performing the universe’s slowest slow dance ever.
- Mars
- Arcturus - One of the brightest stars in the sky
- A red giant - a dying star
- A blue giant - a rare, extremely hot, extremely bright star
- Boötes Void - This is also referred to as "The Great Nothing.” It’s an enormous space in the Boötes constellation containing exceptionally few galaxies compared to the rest of the observable universe. It’s a little mind-blowing to think about how hard it is to find a void in the universe where there is actually very little to see. …I also feel that Boötes Void should be the title of an emo song.
- The moon and some of its craters. (This I even managed to photograph through the telescope lens - not very well though.)
The whole experience just makes one realise how minuscule your problems are and how insanely fortunate you are to be a speck in a universe this size, a sentient speck awestruck by it all …So, equally insignificant and incredibly blessed all at the same time!
I also learnt that stargazing is not just a winter thing. While the sky may be clearer in winter, there’s still plenty to see in summer, and you can see different things, like more planets and the rings of Saturn.
Other Things to Do in Sutherland (Beyond Stargazing)
Visiting SALT, The Southern African Large Telescope Tour
As you drive up to SALT, as soon as that dome appears in an otherwise barren landscape, it feels like you’re entering a science fiction film.
Inside the telescope building, your guide will rotate the massive dome above to show you how it works. The experience feels properly eery and surreal.
Seeing the scale of the machinery, learning how and why the building is temperature-controlled, and hearing about how they maintain the 91 enormous mirrors that are an integral part of the telescope is quite fascinating.
There are other telescopes around the main SALT telescope, usually operated remotely by people overseas. We got to step into one and it was a weird combination of high-tech and retro. Even the surrounding landscape, which is desolate except for these strange-looking buildings, feels like you’re on another planet.
During the guided tour, you also get to visit the visitor centre, where you learn about the universe and Sutherland through various displays and interactive exhibits. There’s a green screen where you can pose in different space-related scenarios.
This may be becoming less impressive in the era of AI but I think it makes the whole experience!
Tours of SALT cost R120 per person or R60 for kids between the ages of 6 and 11 and are free for kids aged 5 and under. Book a tour here.
And if you need more convincing, watch the Instagram reel here.
High Altitude Wine Tasting & Chocolate Pairing
The rest of the activities we participated in were conveniently located at Rogge Cloof itself, one of which was a wine tasting.
The owners of Rogge Cloof have their own vineyard about 20–30 kilometres away from the reserve. It produces some of the highest-altitude wines in the Cape. It turns out that the cold temperatures help prevent diseases in the vines and the minerals from the nearby extinct volcano, Salpeterkop, play a valuable role in the wine’s ‘terroir’. (There’s a word I never used before moving to Cape Town!)
We got to sample five of Rogge Cloof’s wines in a guided wine tasting and chocolate pairing. (Yes, even before dinner!) Turns out, volcano wine is delicious!
Hiking to Poets Cave at Rogge Cloof
On Day 2, after a hearty breakfast, we embarked on a hike through the mostly desolate but uniquely impressive landscape of Rogge Cloof.
We found our way to Poet's Cave, a landmark associated with the famous South African poet NP van Wyk Louw, who spent time here during his youth.
The walk itself is beautiful, but one of the highlights for our group may have been something slightly less poetic: picking up sheets of ice we found in the stream and smashing them against the rocks. - It’s like the Karoo’s answer to a rage room!
Bikes are also available if you would prefer to cycle instead of hike.
Game Drives and Cheetah Tracking
Cheetah tracking is an activity offered here when conditions allow. However, during our stay, there was no need to track the cheetahs, we knew exactly where they were: They were in enclosures. Rogge Cloof had just moved some of their cheetahs out because of inbreeding and moved a new female cheetah in. Her name is Rosalyn.
As part of her introduction to the reserve, they had put her in an enclosure alongside an enclosure for the reserve’s male cheetahs. They were days away from releasing her so that she would be given time to explore the massive property on her own before the males would be reintroduced.
Seeing all the springboks at sunset from the game vehicle was also quite spectacular.
Guided Nature Drive & Fossil Field Outing
One of the most surprising things to do in Sutherland is to visit the fossil plains at Rogge Cloof.
After our trek to the Poet’s Cave, we did a guided nature drive. It felt a bit like a safari game drive but the animals were all dead …and had been for 250 million years. Seriously.
After driving some distance in a safari vehicle and not really seeing any animals (I’m not sure where they were hiding that day), the ground turned from terracotta to grey.
We stopped for some refreshments on what was actually a fossil plain. Still chewing on biltong and sipping on my tea (and trying to drink it before the cold wind made it undrinkable), we took a few steps off the road and our guide, Cari van Eeden, directed our attention to the ground.
There they were.
Not rocks but fossils.
Scattered on the ground were the remains of ancient creatures. Vertebrae lined up neatly in the soil, ribs partially exposed, fragments of bone. Cari walked the length of what looked like the fossilised skeleton of an 8-foot-long dinosaur, but it wasn’t one. It was a therapsid, probably a pareiasaur. These were fossils from the Permian period, more than 250 million years old — long before dinosaurs even existed.
They were not in a museum, not embedded in rock deep underground, but just lying in the dirt.
Having previously visited the West Coast Fossil Park, where fossils significantly younger than these are carefully excavated and preserved, it felt almost surreal to see these fossils simply lying in the dirt. No palaeontologists, no velvet ropes; just us, some biltong, a cup of tea, and a pre-dinosaur spinal column that you could accidentally trip over if you weren’t careful.
My mind was officially blown! It took most of the drive back to our accommodation to process it.
So, is Sutherland Worth Visiting?
Absolutely.
Sutherland may be best known for its stars, but during my stay, I discovered that it offers much more: wildlife, wine, the chill of the wind that wakes you up, the hospitality that warms your bones, vast landscapes that make you feel calm, magnificent stars that inspire awe, and prehistoric history that blows your mind.
Getting there
Getting to Rogge Cloof is all part of the adventure. You can find it on the R354, Sutherland.
My group travelled in the Ford Ranger Raptor, which was the perfect vehicle for the trip. I can’t explain what Performance Fox Suspension is, all I know is that we travelled on plenty of not-so-well-maintained tar roads and at least 12 km of dirt roads from the entrance of Rogge Cloof to our accommodation, and it was such a smooth ride. The envious looks from other bakkie drivers on the road still stick in my mind.
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| Our Ford Raptor during a pit stop in Matjiesfontein |
Learn more or book:
Click here to learn more about Rogge Cloof Private Nature Reserve in Sutherland or to book your stay:
And here you can find out about other Cape Country Routes accommodation and activity offerings:
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I've always wanted to go to South Africa. This place sounds amazing with so much to do! Being able to sip volcano wine would definitely be an experience!
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