How far should you travel from Johannesburg to escape to a place that’s completely isolated from the urban chaos. Turns out, not far. A 45-minute drive from Johannesburg is where you will find Cabin Collective, a pair of wilderness cabins thoughtfully located and built to give couples a chance to connect. Or re-connect. Bonus – there are mountain bike trails nearby…
WHERE IS IT?
On the way from northern Johannesburg to Hartbeespoort Dam is a range of rolling hills that are the northwestern perimeter of the Cradle of Humankind and that we know offer great mountain biking. Now we also know those hills also offer a great escape from the city-life mania. Cabin Collective is located on a family-owned and managed cattle farm on the border of Gauteng and North West provinces. You drive through the farm for about four kilometres into the hills. Deep into the hills, which makes you feel like you are heading to somewhere remote.
You see the two cabins from a distance, located on a ridge facing a gulley and even larger hills to the south. Cabin Collective has its own section of land that is bordered by an electric fence and a security gate that requires a code to enter. This immediately makes you feel a little safer. The cabins are quite remote and there isn’t another building in sight.
WHAT IS IT?
Cabin Collective is two isolated, off-the grid cabins that are intelligently fashioned from shipping containers and designed to offer luxury and privacy to couples. They have a bedroom with an en-suite shower and a fully fitted kitchenette. There’s a deck with seating, recliners, a wood-fired hot tub, a fire pit, a pizza oven and a built-in deck hammock for two.
It’s got everything you need really. There’s even a reliable Wi-Fi channel, should you need to do some work or upload your Instagram posts and stories. And you will feel inspired to do so because Cabin Collective is just one of those experiences where you can’t help but want to capture and share the moment and preserve the memory.
OUR EXPERIENCE
Not surprisingly, most weekends are already booked a couple of months in advance. Midweek availability is good though. My wife, Joanne and I, arrived on a Tuesday afternoon and left on a Thursday morning. Essentially two days and two nights of being able to focus on each other. Those with kids at home – especially small kids – will know how rare and valuable this kind of experience is.
Having some experience with Kolkol wood-fired hot tubs, we knew to light a fire at least two hours before we intended to relax in the hot water haven and we did so on both evenings. The first evening was windy with a dramatic sky that gave us stunning sunset images. By contrast, the second night was dead still and we spent time exploring the night sky with both curious eyes and the astronomy apps on our phones. We saw a shooting star, which was pretty cool!
The air is fresh, as you’d expect in the countryside and, during the day, the birds are the only thing you hear, other than the occasional drone of a distant aircraft. The cabin and deck face south. Your view is a rugged gulley below and some large hills across that gully, covered mostly with grassland, some trees and sections of rugged rock. We spotted Eland and Baboon from our deck on the first afternoon and decided to ride there the following morning.
From a self-catering perspective, there’s everything you need, including fridge with freezer, gas cooker, microwave oven and a Nespresso coffee pod machine. There’s also a braai and a pizza oven, which we used to prepare our only lunch. The kitchen is small, but doesn’t really need to be any bigger. It’s also got an eating counter with stools that face out of a large sliding window, offering maximum views, while preparing food, or eating it…
Being experienced with self-catering trips, we planned our meals and drinks well. For those that don’t plan that well, it’s around a 20-minute drive to a supermarket/butchery/bakery/bottle store should you need anything while staying there. Coffee pods, tea bags, sugar and rusks were provided as part of the package, as was our choice of a bottle of red or white wine – or champagne. We chose champagne because it happened to also be Joanne’s birthweek that we were celebrating.
Also provided was plenty of firewood. This we appreciated immensely as, on the second day, we had lit the hot tub fire, the pizza oven fire and, in the evening, the fire pit fire – for atmosvuur, as Joanne calls it…
The bedroom in the main section of the cabin has a king-sized bed with pure cotton linen and, importantly, for the warmer months, a ceiling fan. There’s a small fireplace for the winter months, which is a nice touch. Lying in bed, you have a similar view as you do from the deck. A large glass sliding door system and no curtains or blinds enhances the bush-escape energy and it’s wonderful.
Adjoining the bedroom is a shower, toilet and basin. It’s a large shower with a full glass external sliding door that you can open for a breeze or keep closed – either way, it’s a shower and a loo with a view.
There was another couple that stayed in the other cabin for one of the nights we were there, but the cabins have been positioned so that each has maximum privacy. We actually never saw or heard the people, only noticed their car parked outside and only when we went for our ride.
THE MOUNTAIN BIKING
Although not formal mountain bike trails, the farm roads are quite pleasant to ride. On the slopes that you can see from the cabin, the roads are very steep in places. But if you want to ride some formal mountain bike trails, then B’Sorah is just 7km away and Van Gaalen is about double that by road. There’s quite a range of plains game on the property. On our ride we spotted Eland, Blesbok and Jackal.
B’Sorah has an established network of mostly singletrack trails. It’s ideal for Intermediate and Experienced mountain bikers. A ride to, around, and back from B’Sorah will give you 2-4 hours (25-45km) of solid riding with good elevation gain. You will need to ride part way along the tar road each way. There is no yellow line, but you can move off and back onto the road easily on a mountain bike.
Van Gaalen is the trailhead for a popular mountain bike trails network that spans quite a large area. Unless you’re fit and strong, it’s best to drive to Van Gaalen for this ride.
SUMMARY
Our two-night stay a Cabin Collective was long enough to enjoy the experience fully, but not long enough to really disconnect from our daily grind. It was tranquil, unusual and most memorable. It really did feel like an indulgence and a spoil and that’s really important. We would consider it mid-to-high price range for a self-catering destination. If you have the budget though, we would highly recommend a short stay – or a longer one – at Cabin Collective.
Find out more about Cabin Collective here.
Do you have an interesting destination or accommodation establishment that will appeal to mountain bikers? Need exposure? Send an email to joanne@treadmtb.co.za to find out more about our TREAD Media destination review options.
