Meet Your Hosts: Linda and Klaas

Welcome to Wings Self-Catering in the village of Suiderstrand. As your host team, we trust that your experience at Wings will exceed all your expectations. As the humans (Linda and Klaas) we cannot take all the credit for the environment that we are welcoming you to; so, on behalf of the team, Linda and Klaas, Ester and Julién (fur children) and the nature environment, welcome.

The Humans

We, Linda and Klaas Steyn have called Suiderstrand ‘home’ since August 2017. In February 2019 we were (eventually) able to come and live here permanently after retiring from more than 40 years of hard work in the military (Klaas) and corporate and full-time ministry (Linda). We bought our first property here in 2015 and built our forever dream home here in Suiderstrand because we love nature, the sea, the quiet of the country, hiking, kayaking, birdwatching and the tranquillity of waking up to the sound of the sea and birds and stunning sunrises and sunsets.

Other than running Wings Self-Catering Suiderstrand we stay busy, involved and intellectually stimulated by:

Citizen Scientist Projects

We love being in nature. During our time in nature, should it be walking in the fynbos in our garden, the fynbos across the road, the Agulhas National Park or various other nature locations in the area or on a camping trip we do our best to photograph and record birds, plants, insects, reptiles and all other kinds of living organisms. We record our observations on the iNaturalist and Birdlasser Apps. These Apps feed data directly into scientific databases, recording distribution and other information that assist scientists in understanding various species better and enabling conservation strategies. We are also members of Birdlife Overberg and go on birding outings with them whenever we are able.

Agulhas Heritage Society 

We are active members of the Agulhas Heritage Society; the Society’s aim is to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Agulhas area. 

Exploring our Beautiful Country

We try and take frequent breaks to enjoy the beauty of South and southern Africa. We have an off-road camper which we use, seasonally when visiting national parks and other nature reserves as well as exploring other parts of our country. During the non-camping season, we try and take midweek breaks (and longer) appreciating similar luxury we offer our guests at Wings Self-Catering.

Ethical Leadership Training

Through our ministry, we have developed and presented Ethical Leadership Training Workshops. We have in recent years presented a number of these workshops to staff of the Agulhas National Park as well as the Working for Water; Coast and Wetlands teams working in the Agulhas National Park.

The Fur Children

We have two ginger cats that you may encounter when staying at Wings.

They are:

• Ester, she is the elderly lady, born in October 2008, who strolls around and keeps a quiet eye on all that happens in the area. She is the introvert and does not readily make contact and/or introduce herself to strangers.

• Julien is the young male, named after King Julien the ring-tail lemur in “Penguins of Madagascar”. Julien seems to have taken on the personality of his name-sake quite well. He is the extrovert that will come and welcome guests to Wings, he loves children and can keep them (or actually himself) entertained for hours playing and getting attention from them.

• That said; Julien may at times get over-excited and a bit boisterous - so be careful that he doesn’t catch someone with a nail or tooth - they are super sharp.

• Ester and Julien are on a special diet and they hunt mice and other crawlies should they need any supplements. Please don’t feed them milk, sweet stuff and any other tit-bits and ‘human’ food as it badly upsets their stomachs and are generally not good for them. 

In the unlikely event of anything not meeting or exceeding your expectations, please give us feedback, as soon as possible, so that we can address the matter and you can enjoy your stay to the utmost.

We wish you a wonderful, restful and relaxing stay at Wings and we hope that we will be able to welcome you back soon.