Birders'
Hot Spot!		  
   
Owl in the garden of Rondavel 5  
. . . is possibly the best base in the entire Overberg for bird watchers. Deep in a Nature Reserve, on the edge of both lake and sea, and with the immense wealth of wetlands birdlife literally on your doorstep, it is indeed a very special place. Our Bot River lagoon is one of the top hotspots for birding in the Hermanus area, and is recognised both locally and internationally as an Important Bird Area - IBA. You will see several species right there in your own private garden, more in the milkwood forest, and on walks around the edge of the lake you will see very many more.
Our elegant and comfortable interiors have been designed to fit in with the natural environment, and while you will enjoy a touch of modest luxury, this does not detract from the wilderness experience of being close to nature.		  
Some of the birds you might see

Crested grebe, Black-necked grebe, Dabchick, White pelican, White-breasted cormorant, Reed cormorant, Darter, Grey heron, Purple heron, Little egret, Blackcrowned night heron, Hamerkop
Sacred ibis, Spoonbill, Greater flamingo ,Lesser flamingo, Spurwinged goose, Egyptian goose, South African shelduck, Cape shoveller, Hadedah ibis, Yellowbilled duck, Red-billed teal, Cape teal, Southern pochard, Maccoa duck, Whitebacked duck, African black duck, Rock kestrel, Black-shouldered kite, Fish eagle, Forest buzzard, Jackal buzzard, African marsh harrier, Greywing francolin, Cape francolin, Helmeted guineafowl, Black crake, Purple gallinule, Moorhen, Red-knobbed coot, Black oystercatcher, White-fronted plover, Three-banded plover, Crowned plover, Blacksmith plover, Kittlitz's Plover, Ethiopian snipe, Little stint, Common sandpiper, Marsh sandpiper, Greenshank, Wood sandpiper, Avocet, Black-winged stilt, Spotted dikkop, Southern black-backed gull, Grey-headed gull, Hartlaub's gull, Caspian tern, Sandwich tern, Swift tern, White-winged tern, Rock pigeon, Red-eyed dove, Cape turtle dove, Laughing dove, Rameron pigeon, Klaas's cuckoo, Burchell's coucal, Spotted eagle owl, Black swift, White-rumped swift, Little swift, Alpine swift, Speckled mousebird, Red-faced mousebird, Pied kingfisher, Giant kingfisher, Malachite kingfisher, Hoopoe, Ground woodpecker, White-throated swallow, Greater striped swallow, Rock martin, Brownthroated martin, Black sawwing swallow, Cape bulbul, Olive thrush, Cape rock thrush, Sentinel rock thrush, Familiar chat, Sombre bulbul, Stonechat, Cape robin, Cape reed warbler, African marsh warbler, African sedge warbler, Victorin's warbler, Grassbird, Bar-throated apalis, Neddicky, Grey-backed cisticola, Le Vaillant's cisticola Karoo prinia, Fiscal flycatcher, Cape batis, Cape wagtail, Fiscal shrike, Southern boubou, Paradise flycatcher, Bokmakierie, Southern tchagra, Red-winged starling, Pied starling, Cape sugar bird, Malachite sunbird, Orange-breasted sunbird, European Starling, Double-collared sunbird, Cape white-eye, Cape sparrow, Cape weaver, House sparrow, Red bishop, Masked weaver, Yellowrumped widow, Common waxbill, Pin-tailed whydah, Cape siskin, Cape canary, Bully canary, Protea canary, Cape bunting

  
Flamingo Lake is set inside an exclusive private estate not accessible to members of the public. As our guests, you will enjoy all rights of access during your stay, as well as use of all the facilities in the estate.
The estate is in turn inside the Middlevlei Nature Reserve - about 450 hectares (about 1100 acres) of rolling dunes still recovering from the removal of alien vegetation, and is one of the very few areas of coastal lowlands fynbos under official protection.
Scene from our bird hide		  
Flamingos on our lake

Bird populations vary according to the time of year, the amount of water in the lake, the amount of time that has elapsed since the lake was last opened to the sea, and of course, to the whim of the birds. Flamingos come and go, but we have seen flocks of about a thousand flamingos on the lake, as well as flotillas of about 60 pelicans. At its best, the lake is teeming with water birds - there may be thousands of red-knobbed coots, and hundreds of ducks, shovellers, pochards, stilts, egrets and herons.
For even better bird watching, we are developing a series of walks around the estate, and into the nature reserve, past secret pans of water where Herons breed, large groups of Sacred Ibis make their homes, and weavers and bishops nest amongst the reeds.  
Sugar bird Lake bed when the water is out
Flamingos Wagtail
That owl at Rondavel 5 Pelicans in front of a Bush Cabin
Spoonbills at Rondavel 10 Part of the estate
  At night, you might hear an owl hooting, and in early mornings you may be greeted by the mournful call of the cape batis, harsh alarm cries of the Southern Boubou, and the cheerful call of the Cape Robin.
Especially when the lake is low, there can be huge crowds of terns, gathering in their thousands and periodically swooping into the sky in an amazing umbrella formation. At this time too is when flocks of Sacred Ibis scavenge along the edge of the estuary.
Flamingo Lake is only a few minutes' drive away from other hotspots:
* Afdaks river
* Rooisand Nature Reserve
* Hawston sewerage treatment plant
* Onrus caravan park
* Klein River estuary		  
Common terns flock at the lake edge Hartlaub's gull
Flamingos grazing Sacred Ibis
Sometimes the Lake is open and tidal Oystercatchers
The beach goes on for ever
  The beach is not for swimming. Dangerous currents keep the bathers away, and the result is that we have about 12 kilometres of almost deserted sandy beach where the rare Oystercatchers breed, otters, mongooses and small buck leave their footprints, and the noise of the city seems to be a lifetime away.
   

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Flamingo Lake offers prime self catering accommodation in a bird watchers dream. Located on the edge of the Bot River estuary, it is within a recognised IBA (important bird area), and with access to the beach and incorporating milkwood forest there are good sightings of marine, estuarine and land birds. Flamingo Lake is located within the Middlevlei Nature Reserve which includes both dune wilderness and extensive wetlands providing great birding opportunities. At times the lake hosts about a thousand flamingos, as well as pelicans. Not far from Hermanus in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, on the way to the Garden Route, and not much more than an hour's drive from Cape Town, it is an excellent base from which to explore many bird watching locations including the Klein River, Stanford, Onrus and Rooisand. The fully-equipped self catering accommodation is comfortable, but blends well with the natural environment, and allows for the sometimes odd hours kept by twitchers!