Rowing on Eikenhof Dam at the Elgin Grabouw Country Club (2017-03-11)

Located in the Kogelberg biosphere region and sitting right next to the tranquil waters of the Eikenhof Dam in Grabouw, the Elgin Grabouw Country Club, which was founded in 1987, serves as the area’s local recreational sporting and social hub.

Thanks to its proximity to the dam, watersports, rowing in particular, are particularly big here and a number of amateur and university rowing teams call this dam home.

In addition, the country club serves as home ground for the Elgin Cricket Club, never mind the fact that it also counts 3 tennis courts, two squash courts, a swimming pool, and a bowls green among its facilities!

The nearby Cape Pine’s pine forest plantations are home to some of the best mountain biking trails in Grabouw, and as you can imagine given its location in the Kogelberg biosphere region, the natural fynbos and mountains are home to many a hiking trail, making it popular with nature enthusiasts.

I had heard that the restaurant at the Elgin Grabouw Country Club is technically open to the public, and so having never been there before, one early Saturday morning in March, I bundled my girls into the car and went for a scenic drive over Sir Lowry’s Pass and on to Grabouw.

I enjoyed the drive, the girls less so. (It was hot).

Anyway, back to the dam. Established in 1977 (and raised in 1998), the Eikenhof Dam is an earth-fill type dam on the Palmiet River, its primary purpose being that of irrigation for the fertile land that makes up the fruit-producing Elgin Valley area.

Naturally, given the severe drought that the Western Cape currently finds itself experiencing, the dam was looking in need of quite the serious top up, but nevertheless, there was still enough water for some rowing to take place. (Which was of course quite fascinating for the girls).

However, my master plan of sitting down to eat some lunch with the girls at the club house promptly went up in smoke on discovery of one single “Beware of Snakes” signboard staked into the ground in front of the restaurant building, immediately freaking both girls out to such an extent that I begrudgingly had to heard them back into the car and make another plan.

Sigh, sometimes exploring with little girls is much harder than what it should be… ;)