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Ruth Kamau, Product Owner
 


iKhaya Lodge & Conference Centre

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Everybody wants to visit Cape Town; to see for themselves whether the city’s fabled beauty is all it’s cracked up to be.

Then, when they get there, they want to see and experience everything South Africa’s “Mother City” has to offer. They want to swim on its beaches, visit Robben Island, go up Table Mountain, hang out in funky Long Street, do some shopping, perhaps visit Cape Point or the gardens at Kirstenbosch, certainly explore the exquisite Winelands.

They want to have all of this but they don’t want to spend all day travelling, and most of them won’t want to break the bank on accommodation. If, on top of all of these expectations, they fancy a bit of pampering, they’re now in luck. The hotel they’re looking for is the Ikhaya Lodge and Conference Centre. It’s located on Dunkley Square in the heart of central Cape Town.
Ikhaya in isiXhosa means nothing more than “home”. Ikhaya Lodge gives each guest a home-from-home feeling but it promises a great deal more. According to hotel manager Ruth Kamau, the idea behind Ikhaya is that it offers a “safari experience right in the heart of Cape Town”.

Open your windows on Dunkley Square and you will be greeted by the majesty of Table Mountain. The decor is subtly but unpretentiously African. From the rafters in your room, made out of alien (but ubiquitous) eucalyptus branches, to the bedside lamps (recycled bottles) the decor is contemporary and funky but quintessentially African.

Ikhaya has 11 en-suite rooms and eight self-catering apartments, each with two beds and two bathrooms. The terrifically chic square on which it is located was once, long ago, the home, complete with carriage houses, of a Mr Dunkley. Over the years elegant townhouses sprung up on a quiet, tucked-away corner of Cape Town that never lost its vogue, principally because of its views of the mountain and also because of its remarkable proximity to the centre of the city.

From Ikhaya, Parliament is only five minutes away, the Company Gardens, where the Dutch East India Company created a victualling station for its trading sail ships 350 years ago, is next door. The modern highways that connect Cape Town with the international airport, the Winelands and the rest of South Africa are also only five or so minutes’ drive away. Yet, in Dunkley Square, it really is possible to believe that you are on an upmarket safari.

“We don’t promise you elephants or giraffes in Dunkley Square,” beams the charming Ruth “and we don’t overdo the whole African thing but we are proudly African and we want people to know that they are in Africa”.

The menu, for instance, has African influences but is a bit of fusion, “a bit eclectic”.  At Ikhaya you can get a traditional English or continental breakfast and, for lunch, a fish and chips. African-themed restaurants abound within walking distance.  

A particularly popular spot to enjoy meals is the patio with its relaxed, almost European feel. Compact yet spacious, Ikhaya’s lounge and dining areas have an unpretentious but upmarket and uncluttered sense of space you would expect from a world-class boutique hotel.
There are conference facilities for up to 60 delegates seated cinema style, and all mod cons are on offer, including wireless Internet access, satellite TV and a 24-hour reception.

Guests include almost all European countries, as well as North Americans and those form Africa, the neighbouring states and much further afield on the continent. “People from Africa staying with us have a real sense of belonging,” says Kenyan-born and bred Ruth. “We have a staff of 14 and several of them are from elsewhere in Africa so our African guests immediately feel that they’re right at home. Our guests from, say, Europe, really feel that they are in Africa.”

Ruth says Ikhaya feels “privileged” to be part of TEP. Being part of the TEP Cape Town Hidden Treasures Experience exposes the hotel to top-rate tourism players who all have something to teach the other. “We get to meet people who have boats, people who do walking tours. They’re all the best at their business. Being part of TEP means that we are able to improve our offering, to enrich our guests’ experience of Cape Town.”

The Fifa football World Cup 2010 will, Ruth anticipates, be a short period of frantic activity; to ensure that each fan who stays with Ikhaya goes back to his or her home country extolling the virtues not only of the hotel but of South Africa and Africa. “All of Africa was excited when South Africa won the right to host the World Cup,” recalls Ruth. “We all want South Africa 2010 to succeed.”

 
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