Gumtree Guest House

Gumtree Guest House is located on the banks of the Grobbelaars River with views of the historic Suspension Bridge and Swartberg Mountains, and our garden is a haven for many different types of birds. We are very central in town, only 2 minutes walk to the nearest restaurants. We also have braai/BBQ facilities at the Pool Deck which many guests take advantage of. Loadshedding has created difficult challenges for businesses in South Africa. At Gumtree Guest House we have made the investment into alternative green Energy sources to ensure our guests are minimally inconvenienced by the power outages. With 22 Solar Panels and a 20KVA battery we are able to withstand several hours of outages. Our rooms are all en-suite and offer the comforts of air conditioning and ceiling fans, international electrical outlets, hairdryers, toiletries, tea/coffee trays and bar fridges. All rooms are equipped with televisions with satellite channels and have wireless internet (WiFi) access. Each room has its own external entrance. We are fully licensed and offer a cosy bar which is ideal for pre-dinner cocktails or post-dinner nightcaps on request. Each morning we serve a great breakfast featuring an array of local produce, consisting of fresh home-baked bread, fruit-salad, cereals, yogurts, local cheeses, cold meats, plus a hot (cooked-to-order) breakfast of your choice. Free Wi-Fi is available for guests to use in their rooms and on the decks. We offer secure onsite parking for guests. We have a large deck with swimming pool overlooking the river with wonderful sunsets. Our BBQ area is situated close to the pool and is often used by our guests - it is a superb location for an evening braai.

Area Info

The largest town in the Klein Karoo, Oudtshoorn (pronounced "oats - horn") offers all the amenities of a regional capital - with all the charm of a traditional "plattelandse dorp" (rural town).

Although water is scarce in the semi-arid Klein Karoo (which is why there is no heavy industry in Oudtshoorn), it is a fertile farming area and the town - once the village of Veldschoendorp - owed its early affluence to the feather booms of the 1880's and the early twentieth century. But wealth disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving only a legacy of beautiful architecture in the Art Nouveau and Victorian styles.

Today, the economy of Oudtshoorn relies on agriculture and tourism - its major attractions being the natural environment (including Cango, the largest show cave in Africa), events like the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (South Africa's biggest Arts Festival), endurance races like the Cango Marathon and Cape Pioneer, Attakwas and 36One MTB races, and of course, the curiously handsome ostrich.

Every road into the Klein Karoo crosses a spectacular mountain pass - and all lead through the fantastic Cape fynbos.

The Klein Karoo is described as a botanical hotspot. It is the only place where fynbos (the Cape Floristic Kingdom) overlaps thicket and succulent vegetation - and the Swartberg Mountains are listed as part of the Cape Floral Kingdom World Heritage site (and, as part of the Gouritz Initiative, will soon be part of a major conservation corridor that will link the Klein Karoo to the Indian Ocean).

But perhaps one of the best things about Oudtshoorn is that it is in the Klein Karoo - which means that, within just an hour's drive from town, you can be at the coast at Mossel Bay or George - or inland and in the mountains on your way to the Great Karoo.

Nowhere else in the world can you find so much floral diversity within such close proximity; a semi-desert scarcely 60km away from a coastal rainforest...it's almost hard to imagine.