Around Stilbaai
Heritage, gin and day trips
What is there to see around Stilbaai?
Stilbaai sits in the Cradle of Human Culture. See the Blombos finds at the museum, the stone tidal fish traps at low tide, the tame eels at Palinggat and the fynbos gin at Inverroche. Further out are De Hoop, Bontebok National Park and the Grootvadersbosch forest.
In and around Stilbaai
Blombos Cave, west of town, produced some of the oldest known art: engraved ochre around 75,000 years old, shell beads and a 100,000-year-old ochre workshop. It is a Provincial Heritage Site on the UNESCO tentative list. The cave itself is on a private reserve and closed to the public, but the Blombos Museum of Archaeology at the Palinggat homestead shows replicas of the finds.
The tidal fish traps at Skulpiesbaai are stone walls on the reef that trap fish on a falling tide. There are at least 25 of them, a national monument, centuries old and possibly far older; go at low tide. At Palinggat, tame freshwater eels are hand-fed at 11:00 from Monday to Saturday, with a small fee paid at Stilbaai Tourism.
Gin and olives
Inverroche makes its gin from fynbos on the old Riversdale road and runs one-hour tastings with three gins and chocolates (closed Sundays and Mondays). It is the most popular thing to do in Stilbaai on Tripadvisor.
The valley is olive country. Stonehouse planted its grove in 2008 and presses its own oil on the farm, and neighbouring estates such as Oudewerfskloof and Kleinbergskloof sell oil too. Call it the Goukou olive trail: there is no formal route, but a morning between farms is a good one.
Further afield
Bontebok National Park near Swellendam, home of the antelope you will also see on the farm, is about an hour and a half away. Grootvadersbosch, the indigenous forest in the Langeberg above Heidelberg, is about an hour and a quarter. De Hoop is a full day out, with dunes, whales in season and the hand-drawn Malgas pont on the gravel back route; check the pont is running before you go.
Riversdale, half an hour north, is the nearest bigger town, and the N2 there connects east to the Garden Route and west to Swellendam and Cape Town.
Good to know
Questions
Can you visit Blombos Cave?
No, the cave is on a private reserve and closed to the public. The Blombos Museum of Archaeology in Stilbaai shows replicas of the finds.
When are the Stilbaai eels fed?
At 11:00, Monday to Saturday including public holidays, at Palinggat in Stilbaai West.
Is Inverroche open on Sundays?
No. Inverroche is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
How far is Bontebok National Park from Stilbaai?
About an hour and a half by road, near Swellendam.
More to do
- Things to doLargemouth bass fishing in the farm damStonehouse Lodge has a large private freshwater dam with largemouth bass, a few minutes' walk from the houses. Guests fish it catch-and-release, and no licence is needed on a private farm dam.
- Things to doBird watching on the GoukouYes. BirdLife South Africa records at least 230 species around Stilbaai, and a single summer day usually turns up about 90. On the farm, fish eagles circle the dam and the river, and the three indigenous canyons hold forest and fynbos birds.
- Things to doHiking trailsStart on the farm: a trail climbs from the river up towards Riethuiskraal through fynbos and canyon. Around Stilbaai there are easy coastal walks to the Preekstoel rock and the tidal fish traps, and longer routes like the 11 km Noordkapper whale trail.
- Things to doMountain bikingYes. Ride the farm tracks through the olive orchard and out onto the gravel roads through the farmlands. Singletrack in the Geelkrans and Pauline Bohnen reserves is a short drive away.
- StayStonehouse LodgeThe stone and thatch main house on the hillside, with a wrap-around veranda over the Goukou River, a bar, a pool table, a swimming pool and the slipway below.
- GuideStilbaai guideGetting here, distances and the town.