LUXURY PAD: The Premier Hotel Knysna – The Moorings boasts a range of luxury waterfront accommodation for both leisure and business.  HERE can be few places as tantalising to travellers as the Garden Route town of Knysna – it has beautiful beaches and rivers, magnificent valleys and mountains, pristine forests ... and a rich history to tie it all together.
But for all its natural splendour the town’s greatest asset must surely be its people – and it was during a recent weekend outing that my husband, Salvelio, and I got to meet just a few of these personalities.
One individual clearly making his mark is Knysna Tourism CEO Shaun van Eck, an ex-Port Elizabethan still fondly remembered from his Tourism PE (now Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism) and Boardwalk days, who lined up a full programme of activities for us to try in his neck of the woods.
The initial purpose of our visit, however, was to check out one of Knysna’s newest accommodation establishments, the Premier Hotel Knysna – The Moorings. It’s name might be a mouthful but this sprawling new luxury hotel and property development is all sleek sophistication.
The Moorings (some simply call it the Premier) is still awaiting its star rating by the Tourism Grading Council, but is already a landmark on George Rex Drive, where plush, contemporary-style concrete-and-steel units overlook a section of the Knysna Lagoon known as the Ashmead Channel.
The name Ashmead may ring a bell for older holiday makers with warm and fuzzy memories of the old Ashmead caravan park and resort – the very spot where The Moorings is now situated.
“The Ashmead Resort started in the early 1960s and operated until the end of 2007. We started with The Moorings development in January 2008 and brought Premier Hotels in as the hotel operator last year,” explained Kin Cross-Bell, head of sales and marketing on the property side. The way it works is that the suites in which guests stay over are also available for purchase on a sectional-title basis. Owners are free to check in whenever they want, but when properties are not in use they go into a rental pool for accommodation. This means that, besides having an investment property, owners can also derive a tidy rental income. The concept seems to be working as The Moorings is already popular with both business and leisure travellers – and with investors.
Our two-bedroom suite (there are also one-bedroom and studio suits available) was spacious, stylishly decorated and offered lazy views of the Lagoon and surrounding gardens, the latter characterised by vast parklands interspersed with indigenous trees retained from the old Ashmead days. All rooms have en-suite bathrooms, air-conditioning and a select DStv bouquet.
The buffet and cooked breakfasts served at Salmon, the restaurant on the premises, are substantial, and the service from general manager Chris Snyman and his team is excellent throughout.
Should hunger strike later in the day you can order from an all-day menu or enjoy a sumptuous dinner at Salmon, where deliciously fresh and deftly-plated dishes like Salvelio’s grilled rack of lamb, or my choice of succulent seared kingklip, are served.
Knysna has never had a shortage of fine restaurants and, as dining is always a priority for these two foodie bloggers, we especially enjoyed our leisurely lunch at East Head Cafe, whose spot at the legendary Heads can’t be beaten. The restaurant has been seen large-scale renovations and a brand- new cafe-style menu, introduced by new owner Jerome Simonis.
My Oriental-styled prawn and mango salad went down a treat while Salvelio’s hake and calamari were both as fresh as could be.
We also had a delightful lunch at another new- comer to the town – Quay Four, famous for its flagship Cape Town restaurant, has just opened in Thesen Islands’ Harbour Town and already enjoys steady local support. More seafood followed here, all perfectly prepared, but it was my first course of Knysna’s finest wild oysters that truly hit the spot.
When in Knysna there are countless leisure activities to choose from. First on our itinerary was a township tour with Mawande Kondlo. We were blown away by this inspiring man who, now in his mid-30s, had worked his way up from petrol attendant to hotel porter, eventually to become one of the most promising players in the local tourism industry.
Kondlo’s tour through four of Knysna’s townships has impressed visitors from all corners of the globe, many of whom have also dined at his famous Roosterkoek Khaya, a cozy little restaurant above his home in Khayalethu.
Kondlo has big plans come next month’s Fifa World Cup – and given that both the Danish and French teams are based in Knysna during their training stints – has made some important contacts. Even the Danish ambassador (and several key members of the Danish Dynamos’ support team) has shared his table! World Cup fever has truly set in – shops around town and in the Knysna Waterfront all sport World Cup colours and, even though the town is not staging matches, wherever you go people are talking “2010”.
Another resident with an interesting link to the soccer spectacle is celebrated photographer Ian Fleming, whose gallery on Thesen Islands has been a popular drawcard for several years. Fleming, his son Warren, and colleague John Deakin are “The Three Photographers”, a collaboration that has seen them host regular photographic courses and workshops, not just in and around Knysna, but further afield in towns like Calitzdorp.
The team has also worked on an innovative 2010 fund-raising project called “The Ball and the Pen”, which will be launched later this month.
Our final activity couldn’t have been more perfectly timed – a lazy sunset cruise to the Heads aboard Explorer, one of the Featherbed Company’s sleek catamarans, which was expertly skippered by Theo Beens.
It’s just like Van Eck said: “Knysna is an amazing weekend break, with value-for-money offers and activities that will melt away the stress and create awesome memories. Come play in the beautiful town!”
And that is exactly what we did.