Karoo Gateway
On my recent trip to Pretoria I stayed at the Karoo Gateway at Beaufort West, both on the away and the homeward trips.
I can sincerely recommend this establishment which is biker friendly. I was made to feel very welcome from the outset. It is luxuriously appointed and the food is fantastic. I won't stay anywhere else when in Beaufort West. The cost on the way up was R420 dinner, bed and breakfast and on the way back R395, the difference being in the dinner that was served. The breakfast is continental but a full breakfast is available at extra cost.
The guest house is run by a husband and wife team, Quintus and Juanita Rossouw, assisted by Brandon Rossouw who is not related. Quintus drooled over the GS but didn't take up my offer to go for a spin. Brandon did and probably went to see his bank manager soon after my departure.
This is a very interesting place. It is the old municipal airfield that passed into private ownership about 7 or 8 years ago. It has changed hands a few times and is now run by Quintus and Juanita both as a guest house and an airfield. The gravel runway is 1.6km long at present but there are plans afoot to tar it and extend it to around 2.5km so that it can be used by domestic passenger jets when they are diverted from ACSA airports due to bad weather etc.
The airfield terminal has been converted in to the guest house and the control tower is now a lounge with 360 degree views of the mountains and plains. The sunsets from there are magnificent.
On my first stay two Cherokee 180's from 43 Air School landed. They were crewed by an instructor and four trainee commercial pilots who are flying around South Africa to build up hours. The trainees were Kenyan and had been sent to South Africa by Air Kenya to get their commercial pilots licences. They were a very nice bunch and it was wonderful to see youngsters living their dreams.
On my second stay the air ambulance from Bloemfontein made a night landing. An elderly couple had an motorcar accident near Three Sisters and it was decided to transfer them by air to hospital in Cape Town. The runway was lined by ambulances and emergency vehicles with their lights flashing as the runway lights were not working properly. The air ambulance came straight in from the Bloemfontein side and made a most perfect landing. To say that I was impressed with the landing is an understatement. I realised that I am getting old when the captain and the co-pilot climbed out. These two exceedingly competent and skilled pilots looked to me like children. The air ambulance is a mobile ICU and is staffed by two doctors and a nursing sister.
After the patients had been fetched from hospital the aircraft took off for Cape Town. Thereafter they were going to Newcastle, Durban and then back home to Bloemfontein. They would be home only after dawn the following day.
The captain had a 800GS which he wrote off on the back roads in a remote area while on his way to visit his grandfather. He was travelling alone and was quite badly injured in the fall. It was four hours before someone came across him and could take him to hospital.
Anyway, the purpose of this rambling story is to urge you to stay at the Karoo Gateway when in Beaufort West. Their details are Tel: 023 414 3444 Fax 023 661 4424 Cell 083 321 9399 and website www.karoogateway.co.za
Air Ambulance
Control Tower Lounge
The buildings
Brandon with Quintus behindthe computer
Juanita in the foyer
The dining room
The front
The back
Dankie Geoff - dis great!
I recent stayed here and all the words a have to describe this is great. Very well priced from the room rate right to dinner.
6 months ago we stayed there and all was exactly as described on this forum. A great experience.
Last Saturday we stayed there again and were expecting another good experience.
Wrong! The booked rooms had been changed and we had to settle for other rooms but the worst was yet to come.
The food was pathetic. No choice. Food just arrived. Mutton, not Karoo lamb which I am sure was not cooked fresh although we were assured it was. Dry, overcooked and like leather. Definately not an example of the good Karoo cuisine we have enjoyed elsewhere in the past. I refused to eat it. The veges were ok but had been thawed and reheated. The only good part was the 3 thin potato wedges which were fresh and delicious.
Management was on the premises but "off duty" and I believe they have lost the passion they had last time we visited. They stayed in their house,did not care about the guest experience and let their staff deal with us however they saw fit.
Karoo Gateway is off my list for the forseeable future.
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