The Fishing Lodge

The Five Assegais Fishing Lodge is based around a romantic rambling old stone farmhouse from the turn of the century, nestled in a protective valley overlooking large dams.

Graded 4 star by the TGCSA and AA Highly recommended, the lodge offers an intimate country house atmosphere, that is luxurious, friendly and private.

The open plan sitting, dining and kitchen area is perfect for both catered (we provide hearty country fare) and self-catering. The kitchen is fully equipped and the full bouquet of DSTV is available.

The house has three double bedrooms en-suite and a fourth bedroom also en-suite with two single beds sleeping a total of eight. All beds are equipped with electric blankets and fab linen and loads of soft cushions to ensure a duvet wilderness experience.

Five Assegais Fishing Lodge overlooks a series of four large accessible dams that are lavishly stocked with rainbow, brown and golden trout. Fishing is inclusive of the rate (catch and release) and 2kg fish have been landed!

The lodge is the epitome of 4 star comfy, shabby chic luxuries where one can set aside the troubles of the world.

DIRECTIONS to the lodge.

Take the N12 from Johannesburg to Witbank, which joins the N4, go past Belfast and take the SECOND turning into Machadodorp.

Go into town over the river and get to a four- way stop by the FNB, turn LEFT on to the R541 to BADPLAAS.

Follow the road for 17.5 kilometres and take the BLOEMFONTEIN turn of to the RIGHT.
This becomes a gravel road, go for 2 kilometres to the T-junction turn LEFT and follow the road, through one farm gate, and follow the signs to the lodge.

Rates

Plus VAT @ 14%

A 50% DEPOSIT SECURES YOUR RESERVATION. NO CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS ACCEPTED BALANCE PAYABLE BEFORE ARRIVAL
 

BANKING DETAILS

Five Assegais Country Estate (Pty) Ltd.
Standard Bank

Carolina Branch

Branch Code:052-551
Account Number: 033264643

PLEASE USE THE DATE OF YOUR BOOKING AND NAME AS REFERENCE

Cancellations 0 to 14 days prior forfeit 100% of the deposit.
Cancellations 14 to 28 days prior forfeit 50% of the deposit or 15% (+ VAT) of the booking quote value, whichever the greater.

Cancellations more than 28 days prior forfeit 25% of the deposit or 15% (+ VAT) of  the booking total, whichever the greater

Activities

TROUT FISHING.

The lodge is a fishing paradise with four large dams heaving with lively fat trout to tempt  the sportsman, the weary traveller and lovers of the country. There are four large spring fed crystal clear dams of about 3 hectares profusely stocked with rainbow, brown and golden trout.

HIKING & WALKS

The estate has been extensively laid out with walking paths and hiking trails that make the spectacular places in the kranse and gorges easily accessible. These self guided paths will allow you to explore places that one can only dream about; they are set out so that you can choose the length of your walk from a ‘nice little walk’ to the full day Escarpment Trail and everything in between.

GAME VIEWING

The estate is fenced and game is being introduced, already there are many of the unique buck only found on the high veldt, which are distinctive from the game in the low veldt.
 

TREES

The estate is also a showcase for a wondrous variety of trees to satisfy the most demanding dendrologist with 109 trees already identified just along the paths.

About Five Assegais

For many years this property was neglected, infested with Black Wattle and Eucalyptus plantations, both highly destructive alien invaders that devastated native grassland and gorge habitats. Now, after eight years of ferocious battling by a dedicated team of Wattle Warriors, the area is virtually free once more from these nasty interlopers.

Now, once again, the Skull Rock is visible and smiles down over the lodge and the whole of the Skurwerand, a natural Stonehenge of ancient weathered rocks that give the mountaintop its name of Scaly Back, is again pristine. And with this clearance, so nature has returned, many more bird and animal species are recolonising their original home. Also the water table has risen dramatically where the purest water gushes again from erstwhile dry springs.
 

These waters feed a series of lakes, the largest of which sweeps out around the hillside and leads to a set of dammed cascades that will be filled with large feisty trout.

BRIDES LEAP OR UITSUG FALLS

On one side the estate boasts ‘Bride’s Leap’, a magnificent waterfall with a tragic history in its name.

A bride and groom decided to have their wedding photo taken with them posed on the rock that juts out over the cliff. Unfortunately they forgot that wind travels up the face of a cliff and a gust raised the bride’s flowing dress and she was dashed to her death on the rocks below. Distraught, her husband followed her.

The original house, that has been expanded to become the Lodge, was discovered hidden within a Eucalyptus forest, and is rumoured to have belonged the great Oom Paul Kruger, last president of the Boer Republics, though this has yet to be verified.

It certainly was the watering place, an 'uitspan plek', for trek wagons that serviced the Barberton Gold Rush of the 1880s as they finished the long haul up the old Hells Kloof Pass road- now replaced by the highway to Badplaas in the valley below.

Close by is the battlefield of Dalmanutha, where Kruger’s army fought its last pitched battle against the overwhelming odds of the advancing British before the start of the guerrilla campaign.

The complex rock formations provided a home for 200 Boer refugees during the Boer War and hidden on one of the pastures overlooking the road is a carefully concealed sniper post- so well hidden that in seven years of looking it has only been found twice, only to vanish again.

The views from this part of the estate are truly spectacular; from atop the Bobijaanskrans- home to the local hooligan troop of baboon, across the Bankspruit and Komati headwaters, one can just see the mountains of Swaziland in the distance.

Of all the properties along the edge of the plateau Five Assegais is, without doubt, the finest in terms of views and location. It contains several ecobiomes, with high veldt and middle veldt grassland clothing sweeping hillsides, yellow wood gorges with tree ferns and patches of undisturbed natural vegetation.

Phase three of the Estate Development Plan now in place has seen it being fenced and restocked with the sort of game that would have roamed these heights before the arrival of the San People- the original human inhabitants of the place.