Tankwa Karoo NP/Elandsberg Cottages

[xmarksthespot]

Well it's finally happening in November.... in our latest forthcoming trip from the UK my partner and I are finally creating an itinerary with 3 nights at Elandsberg Cottages. It's been our desire to get to Tankwa and it's about to become reality!

The last time I enquired a few years ago there was construction work going on, and this put us off. I think that that work increased the number of cottages from 5 to 10? (although the current 'Elandsberg Wilderness Camp Facility Layout' on the sanparks website still only shows 5).

My understanding - from looking at online booking - is that there are now six 1-bedroom cottages and four 2-bedroom cottages, all of which accommodate up to 4 people.

As there's just the two of us, we'd probably go for one of the 1-bedroom cottages.

We'd want to be in a quiet cottage, perhaps one of the 'newer' ones, far away from others, yet still have a great view.

Does anyone have any tips as to what number(s) the 'best' cottages are? - and I'll try and request one of these when I book?

And does a more up-to-date plan of the layout exist, perhaps showing all the cottage numbers?

Hoping someone can help please.

[RichardJ]

I have no first hand knowledge of Tankwa, but looking at future ie September 2022 there are 10 units in 3 types of accommodation:

1 x CO2/4Z
5 x CO2/4
4 x FA4

[Albert]

Well it's finally happening in November.... in our latest forthcoming trip from the UK my partner and I are finally creating an itinerary with 3 nights at Elandsberg Cottages. It's been our desire to get to Tankwa and it's about to become reality!

The last time I enquired a few years ago there was construction work going on, and this put us off. I think that that work increased the number of cottages from 5 to 10? (although the current 'Elandsberg Wilderness Camp Facility Layout' on the sanparks website still only shows 5).

My understanding is that there are now six 1-bedroom cottages and four 2-bedroom cottages, all of which accommodate up to 4 people.

As there's just the two of us, we'd probably go for one of the 1-bedroom cottages.

We'd want to be in a quiet cottage, perhaps one of the 'newer' ones, far away from others, yet still have a great view.

Does anyone have any tips as to what number(s) the 'best' cottages are? - and I'll try and request one of these when I book?

And does a more up-to-date plan of the layout exist, perhaps showing all the cottage numbers?

Hoping someone can help please.

We stayed at Elandsberg a few weeks ago. I would suggest that any of the cottages would be fine; they are all set far apart and completely private. I cannot comment whether or not the view is better from one cottage, from my perspective they all have a great view. I can say that a one-bedroomed cottage is in fact quite large! They are actually only supposed to be suitable for two adults, as the other beds are sleeper couches in the lounge, only really suitable for children. We stayed in number 3, which is actually the CO2/4Z cottage (the one which is wheelchair-accessible, this was the only cottage left as we booked at the last minute), Looking from there, I would think that #2 would be a nice choice as well, but on the original map I see that is a family cottage unit. Numbers 4 and 5 (2 and 3 on the old map) shoul be good, as would be #1. Unfortunately I do not know which of the cottages are the newly built ones, but I think that 1 - 5 are the older ones (but the quality was still excellent, not sure if they were redone after the new ones were built.
This photo show cottage #3 in the foreground, with #4 in the background. The angle of the photograph foreshortens the distance between the two, I would guess the cottages are at least a few hundred metres apart.

I am sure that you will enjoy your stay there.

[xmarksthespot]

Thank you @Albert. I'm sure I will enjoy my stay too!

This undated satellite pic from Google shows a building north-west of cottage 1. Is that one of the new cottages? (or perhaps it's a sanparks storage unit?)

There are also roads south of cottage 5, which is where I assume some of the new cottages 6-10 are now sited?