Oviston at Gariep Dam and Nature Reserve

Gariep Dam area Oviston
We continued our travels through the Northern Cape Province to Gariep Dam and Nature Reserve which borders the Free State and the Eastern Cape. It’s the beginning of November and hot as Hades. Gariep Dam Village is very beautiful, with manicured gardens and beautiful trees. Being next to a dam does sort of guarantee you water!

Camel thorns
If memory serves me correctly, it was voted the most beautiful village in…I don’t rightly remember! Either South Africa, or that province, or…whatever, it’s beautiful. We drove the whole way round the dam (Surface area‎: ‎374 km2 (144 sq mi)) and decided to stay in a small town called Oviston (Oviston nature reserve area) in a self-catering place called Siloam Village.
Siloam Village
What a delightful place it turned out to be. We had a room with 6 beds in it (adds a whole new dimension to bringing someone home with you!) and were the only guests at the time (which we loved as I don’t need any competition on the noise front.) It is packed with interesting features, artsy stuff, pools, walks and best of all: animals.
Camels at Siloam village
Rabbits at siloam village
They have camels, rabbits, ducks, birds and a crazy donkey. The donkey fell in love with me – be honest, who after-all can resist my charms? Every time he saw me he made the loudest and longest hee-haw sounds I have ever heard a donkey make. I would have to go over and stroke his head just to keep him quiet. I’m sure the neighbours were thrilled when we left…
The donkey!
The dam nature reserve is beautiful and you can go for walks, swim, watch the sunset and the stars, but it could do with a bit more water. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, South Africa is suffering a terrible drought and we can only hope it rains soon. Still, it is an incredibly beautiful area and well worth a visit. And Siloam Village is really lovely especially if you have children. Send them off to feed the animals while you laze at the pool!
Siloam village
Siloam Village
2 Msasa Road
Oviston
Lake Gariep
Eastern Cape
GPS:
30°41’45.45″S
25°45’57.85″E
Lake Gariep is situated 190km south of Bloemfontein just off the N1 highway. It borders between the three provinces of the Free State, Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape. Oviston Nature Reserve comprises a long, narrow strip of land, situated on the southern shoreline of Lake Gariep in the north-eastern part of the Eastern Cape. The reserve extends from the Gariep Dam wall in the west to the Bethulie rail-road bridge in the east.

Share this
Post new comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <div>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may use [inline:xx] tags to display uploaded files or images inline.

More information about formatting options