Meet Your Environment

Welcome to Wings Self-Catering in the village of Suiderstrand. As your host team, we trust that your experience at Wings will meet and exceed your expectations. To enhance your experience at Wings we want to introduce you to the nature environment you will be in while staying at Wings Self-Catering Suiderstrand.

The Setting

Wings Self-Catering in the village of Suiderstrand is situated within a nature environment with an abundance of birds and other fauna and flora all around. Suiderstrand is ‘surrounded’ on the north, east and west by the Agulhas National Park and the south by the Atlantic Ocean. Across the R319 from Wings, there are a few plots (mostly undeveloped at present) that border on a private nature reserve which in turn has the Agulhas National Park as its neighbour. The plots both sides of Wings and across the road, at the moment, serves as a wildlife corridor for small game to move between the Agulhas National Park and the green-areas in and around Suiderstrand.

The most notable small game (regular visitors and residents) are the Cape Grysbok, Four-striped Grass Mouse and a family of porcupines. The Grysbok and porcupine are primarily nocturnal; however, the Grysbok are often seen grazing on the fynbos near and around Wings and comes to drink water at Wings’ birdbath; the porcupines keep to their night-time routine and are seen very seldom, other than for the signs of their foraging of plant-bulbs and other ‘delicatessens’ they eat in the area. There are a few other less observed (more shy) local mammals/inhabitants such as mongoose, shrew and we recently even spotted a Cape Clawless Otter on the property.

There is also a presence of a few reptile species such as tortoises, lizards, geckos, frogs and snakes. Please be on the lookout for the tortoises, especially where you park your vehicle to make sure there isn’t one under your vehicle that you may inadvertently drive over. There are few species of frogs that will announce their presence through their regular clicking and croaking choir - they tend to keep to the brush and the pond next door to Wings.

Wings is a birding paradise. We have recorded more than 70 bird species on and around the property, in the wider Suiderstrand area more than 190 bird species have been recorded. If you spend some time quietly sitting on the stoep, you will be amazed at the number of birds you will observe coming to visit the bird-feeders and birdbath or just passing through. Some of the notable bird species are: 

There are two bird-feeders at Wings; a feeder-table and a seed-feeder. You are most welcome to place fruit such as apples, oranges, naartjies, bananas and even tomatoes on the feeder-table and watch the variety of birds coming to enjoy the food/treats. Please only put wild bird seed in the seed-feeder; bread and other human food is not good for them as they live in their natural environment and are not adapted to such food. The birdbath is also a favourite visiting spot for a large variety of birds coming to drink water and have a bath; please top it up should the water level get a bit low.

Being in a nature environment, Wings have a few creepy-crawlies such as insects, caterpillars, spiders, snakes and scorpions. The creepy-crawlies generally keep to themselves in the vegetation around Wings so they shouldn’t present a hazard or threat to you; just keep an eye open and should you have the opportunity to have one get too close and feel uncomfortable, give us a call and Klaas will come and remove it. 

Exploring on Foot from Wings Self-Catering

The Agulhas National Park is an open park. Feel free to take hikes in the area sticking to roads, footpaths and Jeep tracks. All the plots in Suiderstrand are private property, please respect others’ property and nature by not trespassing, littering or damaging the fynbos. There are a number of walks of different lengths you can take from Wings Self-Catering. The walk-up Sandberg initially gives you beautiful views over Suiderstrand, as you venture higher up you can see Struisbaai, the Agulhas Plains, Soetendalvlei, Soetmuisberg in the direction of Bredasdorp and when you continue past the beacon on the top you can see Soetanysberg and the big white sand dunes at Brandfontein. There is also a hike along the ridge, past the reservoirs, following the coast all the way to the lighthouse; giving you beautiful views of the shoreline, including the fish traps at Rasperpunt and the wreck.

The beach and shoreline is only a short walk, less than 400m, from Wings Self-Catering. Along the beach, there is lots to explore and do. The shoreline varies from sandy beaches, stony beaches and rocky ledges. The bay and shoreline of Suiderstrand is an ideal for swimming, snorkelling, kayaking or just long strolls. During low tide, the rock pools along the coast teem with a large variety of sea life such as anemones, fish, limpets and urchins. The best bathing beach, and lovely picnic spot, is at the lagoon. You can either swim in the lagoon or in the sea along the sandy beach just west of the lagoon. To get there walk along the beach to the west (turn right when you get on the beach) and continue walking along the track, just before you get to Lagoon House (Pietie se Huis) take the track that leads off to the right and you will see the lagoon in front of you as you get to the top of the little rise. At the lagoon be on the lookout for the large shell midden left behind by the Khoi that used to live here hundreds of years ago. If you turn to the east (left) when you get to the beach you can explore a totally different type of coastline, bays that are more rocky with stretches going quite far into the sea during low tide. There are a few spots where freshwater ‘fountains’ exit into the sea - you will recognise them by the green water plants growing up to the shore. The ancient fish traps, at Rasperpunt, are also a good area to explore at low tide; these were built by the Khoi hundreds of years ago to trap fish in during low tide.