The farm is named for the wild proteas on the slopes above it. It’s a fruit farm first. The visitors came later, because Oom Niel wanted people to see the valley the way he saw it from the top.
The Langeberg runs for about 250 km from Worcester past Robertson, Montagu and Swellendam almost to George. It is part of the Cape Fold Belt: hard sandstone in the cliffs, softer shale on the gentler slopes where fynbos and proteas grow.
The tractor road climbs it on the Koo side to 1 491 metres, below Dassieshoek peak at 1 698 metres. Hikers coming up the other side from Robertson need most of a day to reach the same hut on foot.
The Koo is a high valley north of the Langeberg, planted with orchards from one side to the other. It gave its name to a tinned fruit brand that South African families have kept in the cupboard for generations.
In spring the valley floor turns white and pink with blossom. In winter snow often lies on the Matroosberg on the northern skyline.
The R318 climbs out of Montagu up Burgers Pass, first called the Koo Pass. Thomas Bain, who built many of the Cape’s mountain roads, plotted it in the 1870s. Our gate is at the top.
Drive it slowly. There are long straights, sharp corners and farm tractors on the road.
On the high ground where the Koo Valley meets the Langeberg. The family has worked this land ever since.
The road builder plots a pass up from Montagu. The money runs out and work stops.
For about a thousand pounds. It is later renamed Burgers Pass after a Mr Burger who pushed to have the road built properly.
Daniel Petrus Burger. Everyone would know him as Oom Niel.
Oom Niel builds his own road up the Langeberg to the high ground below Dassieshoek and starts taking visitors up behind the tractor.
Oom Niel’s son carries on with the orchards and the guests.
Pierre brings the Carmingo apricot from Spain and introduces it to South Africa.
At 80, Oom Niel designs and builds a riverside campsite under the poplars with his own hands.
On 11 July 2025, aged 86. Pierre still drives his road every Wednesday and Saturday.
For the third time, in the Kfm 94.5 Best of the Cape Awards.
He walked the farm in his blue overall and noticed everything. The mountain road, the stone walls and the campsite by the river were his work.
Between the tractor trips and the potjies the real work goes on. The orchards around the cottages and along the start of the road are the family’s living.
The Carmingo apricot, which Pierre Burger brought from Spain in 2012, ripens here. Ask when you book if the fruit is in season during your visit.
The tractor trip is R300 for adults, and the potjie the same again. Spring weekends and school holidays fill up first.