LUTZVILLE

(including Koekenaap)

Wine, sunshine and the sea, these are the hallmarks of Lutzville and of course spring flowers and unforgettable holiday experiences. Koekenaap, the adjacent small country hamlet, lies closer to the sea and is set in a patchwork landscape of farms. The village was originally known as Vlermuisklip. The name was eventually changed to Lutzville in honour of Johan Lutz, an engineer who was appointed in 1923, by the then Department of Lands, to prepare all irrigable land in the valley for farming. His father was a missionary in the area. Apart from surveying, one of his tasks was to lay out a town in the area. As far as could be established, the first house in the town was built in 1947.

GENERAL INFORMATION

How to get there

Vanrhynsdorp 47 km, Koekenaap 7 km, Vredendal 23 km.

HISTORICAL VIEW

Melkboomsdrift Guest House

Declared a National Monument, dating back to 1820.

Vlermuisklip

A rock just outside of town, declared a National Monument, and deriving it’s name from the early explorers like Simon van der Stel who, sleeping over at the rock, were disturbed by the hordes of bats congregating in the area.

ATTRACTIONS

Lutzville Vineyards

Lutzville has the 2^nd largest wine cellar in South Africa and the first on the wine route from the north. Visitors can taste and purchase wine unique to the area.

Sishen Saldanha Railway Bridge

Near the Lutzville is this spectacular bridge stretching over a distance of 1035 m. The deck’s weight is 14 100 tons and was put together with hydraulic pumps and shifted over teflon plates – the longest bridge in the world to be build with this method.

Accommodation in and around Salem