{"id":475352,"date":"2021-03-14T14:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=475352"},"modified":"2021-03-12T13:30:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T11:30:00","slug":"a-look-inside-a-r75-million-nature-reserve-home-for-sale-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/475352\/a-look-inside-a-r75-million-nature-reserve-home-for-sale-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"A look inside a R75 million ‘nature reserve’ home for sale in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

About a decade ago, Willem and Makkie Joubert\u2019s daughter decided to leave the family home in Pretoria, South Africa, to study architecture in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to say it out loud, but we decided to follow her,\u201d Willem Joubert says, so the couple, having founded a pharmaceutical group that grew to employ about 2,000 people, began to look for what he calls \u201cfarms\u201d near Cape Town.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cfarm,\u201d Willem acknowledges, is something of a misnomer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe correct description would be a nature reserve,\u201d he says of their stewardship, \u201cbecause there\u2019s no farming activities on the farm and no hunting on the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2012, based on a tip from a casual acquaintance, they found what they were looking for: a 1,195-acre plot of land near Robertson in the Western Cape<\/a>. The property is about an hour and a half\u2019s drive from Cape Town and had been pieced together by a conservationist from multiple lots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was totally unspoiled, with no infrastructure on it,\u201d Willem says\u2014just vast stretches of fynbos, an incredibly biodiverse shrubland (plenty of evergreen heath, protea, iris, and lily) wholly contained within the Unesco-protected Cape Floral Region. There\u2019s greater density of unique plant species here than in the world\u2019s rainforests.<\/p>\n

For her part, Makkie Joubert had always wanted a home with a small enclosed area\u2014\u201ca sort of piazza,\u201d she explains\u2014but the couple realized that that this wouldn\u2019t quite work with the area\u2019s climate, which mirrors that of the Mediterranean:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s temperate most of the year, with very hot summers and chilly, though rarely freezing, winters. Instead, they hired architects Joe and Reinette Klerck to develop \u201ctheir own version of open space in nature,\u201d Willem says.<\/p>\n

Construction didn\u2019t just entail creating houses. It meant building a three-kilometre access road, a dam and irrigation system, all without disturbing the flora and fauna. The compound itself, comprising six structures across about 26,000 square feet, according to Willem, wasn\u2019t completed until late 2014.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The couple moved in 2015 and stayed for about five years until \u201cour business activities caught up with us,\u201d Makkie says. \u201cWe had to do so many flights from Cape Town and back. It\u2019s not a way to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, she adds, their daughter completed her degree \u201cand she\u2019s awfully independent now.\u201d Time to put their home on the market.<\/p>\n

The property is listed with Aimee Campbell and Carrick Campbell of Greeff Properties, the exclusive affiliate of Christie\u2019s International Real Estate in South Africa, for 75 million ZAR ($5 million). \u201cWe still love the place,\u201d Makkie says, \u201cbut you know, life changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Buildings<\/strong><\/p>\n

The compound sits in the middle of a vast, open tract of land, though the town of Robertson is only 10 minutes\u2019 drive, Makkie says. \u201cThe house is positioned fairly centrally in the property,\u201d says Willem. \u201cYou don\u2019t see fences or neighbours. It\u2019s just a 360-degree view onto mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Construction of the property proceeded slowly; the Jouberts didn\u2019t want to disturb any land unnecessarily, so they waited until the road was paved to begin building the houses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The compound is surrounded by a five-foot-high brick wall, not to keep anything out, Willem says, but to keep the dogs in. Upon entering, visitors find two symmetrical main buildings connected by a furnished breezeway.<\/p>\n

The east building has a living room, an \u201centertaining kitchen\u201d in which guests can congregate around an open-plan dining area, and a separate \u201cworking kitchen,\u201d where the cook does the heavy lifting. Upstairs is a bedroom suite and study. The western building has two guest suites, a double-height library, a music room, and a game room with a billiard table and a projector TV system. Each building has its own, two-car garage.<\/p>\n

Nearby is a house the couple calls \u201cthe cottage,\u201d with a gym and an additional guest suite. Deeper into the compound is a structure overlooking a massive freshwater pool; that building, which they\u2019ve dubbed an \u201centertainment building,\u201d has a kitchen, a bathroom, and dressing rooms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a large barn that houses staff on its second floor and a \u201ccottage\u201d used by staff.<\/p>\n

In total, the property has seven bedrooms and nine full baths. It currently employs two full-time staffers, plus a gardener who doesn’t live on site. A system of solar panels supplies the property\u2019s daytime energy needs. (The system doesn\u2019t currently have battery storage, though that could be added easily.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of rooms and open space was to be able to enjoy it with a lot of guests,\u201d says Makkie. She designed the landscaping and the house so guests can seamlessly circulate inside and outside and flow from one building to the next.<\/p>\n

The Grounds<\/strong><\/p>\n

The buildings are connected by a series of walkways, gardens, and lawns. Mature acacia and fever trees dot the property, and a small, walled orchard with mango, guava, and orange trees connects to the barn.<\/p>\n

The star attraction lies outside the compound\u2019s walls, where a steady procession of wildlife parades by.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGame runs freely on the property,\u201d says Willem. Antelope including eland, springbok, and kudu (famous for their curved horns) graze around the house, and red hartebeest and zebra regularly visit the nearby lake. Leopards are the only dominant predator.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a view from the bedrooms to the main plain, where the game gather in the late afternoon,\u201d he says. Although the Jouberts don\u2019t themselves partake, periodic hunts have been necessary to keep the animal population down to prevent over-grazing.<\/p>\n

Before they quit the farm, the couple went on bike rides and runs across the land without seeing anyone or anything; occasionally, they\u2019d borrow horses from a (distant) neighbour and ride trails.<\/p>\n

Given the mostly temperate climate and location set in the Cape Winelands region, the couple says that with proper irrigation, there’s ample land for a few hectares of vineyards. In February, when summer is at its zenith, temperatures can reach 30C (86F), Willem says; the rainy winter season peaks in July.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn some years, there\u2019s some snow on the mountaintops, but barely for a day or three,\u201d he explains, \u201cso it\u2019s a lot of excitement for everyone in the area\u201d when it happens.<\/p>\n

The farm is looked after by a permanent staff \u201cwho run the place as if we\u2019re there,\u201d Willem says, and family friends in Cape Town regularly use the property. The Jouberts visit only every three months or so; still, Makkie says, this one will be hard to sell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of big changes that necessitated we make different plans,\u201d she says, \u201cbut we just really enjoyed the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Read: Key changes proposed for complexes and sectional titles in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About a decade ago, Willem and Makkie Joubert\u2019s daughter decided to leave the family home in Pretoria, South Africa, to study architecture in Cape Town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":475356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-475352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475352"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475392,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475352\/revisions\/475392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}