Page 16 - Landscape-Issue159

PROJECT

selected specimen trees to showcase their
natural beauty, as well as keeping a safe
distance between the units to maximise
privacy.
The landscape features tree species
such as Sterculia quinqueloba, the large-
leaved Star Chestnut, sometimes referred
to as ghost trees due to their white stems.
The main arrival entrance to the lodge
is designed to showcase one of these
magnificent trees close to the cliff edge.
Along many of the pathways, a variety of
large trees including Commiphora, Albizia,
Terminalia and Gardenia species have
been planted, along with large Marula,
Combretums and many other species.
Site challenges
One of the greatest challenges on site was
installing all the services required for the
units, as these were all on top of solid rock
with very little soil to excavate to create
the trenches. This meant that all rock in the
trench lines had to be drilled and chemically
treated in order to break it, leaving behind The main arrivals area showcases Sterculia quinqueloba, close to the cliff edge
huge amounts of grey, fractured, unnatural-
looking rock.
This led to landscaper Gordon Kershaw
having to fix the problem and rehabilitate
the landscape to hide all unnatural-looking,
broken rock. This was done by creating rock
berms in areas where privacy was needed
and building up rockeries to hold soil in
which plants could be planted. All the grey-
coloured, fractured rock was then covered
with natural brown rock and soil in order to
blend back into the environment.
Trees that had to be removed for
pathways and service trenches where then
transplanted back into disturbed areas and Bird hide Main area entrance
natural rocks were placed back along the
service trenches to make them disappear
again. Due to the fact that the area had so
much rock to repurpose and bury, over 400
cubic meters of soil was brought onto site
by trucks. This soil, mainly sand-based, was
removed from the surrounding community
dams and levées, where the former had
silted up almost completely over the years,
no longer holding water. Removing this
sand and soil then helped create new dam
areas to hold water for the community;
it also benefited the team on site – a win-
win situation. Soil was stockpiled for the
vegetable garden and to rehabilitate all
areas. Yoga and gym deck Main area restaurant
The vegetable garden area, 8 by
21 metres, was established within a Solar farm
shadehouse using rocks to create raised The lodge is 100% off grid, with a large
planter boxes in which to grow fresh solar and battery plant built by Tekton
vegetables and herbs. and supplied by Energenic AE. It has the
The sandstone rock that was used to following capacity:
create the wall cladding arrived in the form • Inverter total capacity 300kw
of huge boulders. This required a team of • Usable battery storage 736kwh
rock masons who chiselled out the cladding • PV plant 406.8kWp producing 1830kWh per
by hand. It also created a large amount of day with a back-up generator of 250kVa.
rock chip wastage material that was then The lodge reflects and respects its natural
used around the solar farm. A few selected surroundings within the pristine bushveld.
boulders where also used as sculptures in
the landscape to tell the story of where the Text supplied by Gordon Kershaw and Nick Randall.
rock cladding comes from. Photos by Gordon Kershaw n Owner’s outpost

14 Landscape SA • Issue 159 2025 Check us out www.salandscape.co.za