La Clé Lodge & Villas
Franschhoek
Fynbos biome · English oak
Price on request
Fynbos stays
Across Africa
Coot Club
Stanford
Fynbos biome · White milkwood · Southern right whale
Price on request
Vergenoegd Löw Boutique Hotel & Spa
Somerset West
Fynbos biome
Price on request
Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse
Riebeek Valley, Riebeek West
Fynbos biome · Black wildebeest · Bontebok
Supports BirdLife South Africa
From R 5,636 a night
Franschhoek Country House & Villas
Franschhoek
Fynbos biome · English oak
Supports Cape Leopard Trust
From R 6,195 a night
Tintswalo at Boulders
Simon's Town, Cape Town
Fynbos biome
Supports SANCCOB and 4 others
Price on request
Melkkamer Homestead, De Hoop
Western Cape
Fynbos biome · Bontebok · Southern right whale
Price on request
De Hoop Collection
Western Cape
Fynbos biome · Bontebok · Southern right whale
Price on request
De Hoop in Plett
Plettenberg Bay
Fynbos biome · Southern right whale
Price on request
Welgelegen House by RETURN Africa
Gardens, Cape Town
Fynbos biome · English oak
From R 2,800 a night
An African Story by RETURN Africa
Bakoven, Cape Town
Fynbos biome
From R 9,900 a night
The Kohling
Gardens, Cape Town
Fynbos biome · English oak
Supports Streetscapes
Price on request
Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat
Western Cape
Fynbos biome · Cape fox · Caracal
Price on request
Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate
Benguela Cove, Hermanus
Fynbos biome
Supports BirdLife South Africa
Price on request
The Manor House at Colmant
Franschhoek
Fynbos biome · English oak
Price on request
Schoone Oordt Country House
Swellendam
Fynbos biome
From R 4,355 a night
MOSAIC Lagoon Lodge
Stanford
Fynbos biome · Southern right whale
Price on request
Buffelsdrift Farm
Ladismith
Fynbos biome · Spekboom
Price on request
Silver Bay Villa
Western Cape
Fynbos biome
Price on request
Cape Kloof Villa
Tamboerskloof, Cape Town
Fynbos biome · English oak
Supports Cape Leopard Trust
Price on request
Manor@Longridge
Stellenbosch
Fynbos biome · English oak
Supports Cape Leopard Trust
Price on request
Plumbago Cottage - Stanford Country Cottages
Stanford
Fynbos biome
Supports National Sea Rescue Institute
From R 2,850 a night
Lauradale
Stellenbosch
Fynbos biome · English oak
Supports Cape Leopard Trust
From R 1,465 a night
Moonshine on Whiskey Creek
The Crags, Plettenberg Bay
Fynbos biome
Supports National Sea Rescue Institute
From R 1,950 a night
Fynbos is the vegetation of the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest of the world’s six floral kingdoms and the only one contained within a single country. It is hard, narrow-leaved, low scrub that looks like nothing much from a moving car and turns out, when you stop and crouch, to hold more plant species per hectare than almost anywhere on earth. Most of them grow nowhere else.
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It also burns. Fynbos needs fire every fifteen years or so to release seed, which is why a recently burnt slope is not a disaster but the start of the most spectacular flowering you will see.
The stays here sit inside that system: farms with a conservancy on the boundary, cottages on a mountain reserve, guesthouses on the coast where fynbos runs down to the sea. Many of the causes their bookings support are clearing invasive alien trees, which is the single biggest threat to both the plants and the water they protect.
Questions travellers ask
When does fynbos flower?
Something is in flower in every month, but the main show is roughly August to October, after the winter rain. Proteas and ericas carry the late winter and spring; the season shifts with rainfall, so treat those months as a guide rather than a date.
Where does fynbos grow?
Mostly the Western Cape and the western parts of the Eastern Cape, in a belt along the mountains and the coast. It is the dominant vegetation of the Cape Peninsula, the Overberg, the Cederberg and much of the southern Cape.
Is fynbos good for birding?
It has a small number of species but a high proportion you will not see anywhere else, including the Cape Sugarbird and the Orange-breasted Sunbird, both tied to proteas and ericas. Many fynbos stays on Spekboom are also flagged bird friendly.