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Moon Shine on Whiskey Creek

Our rating

7/10

Price guide

Highlights

- Lovingly crafted forest cabins
- Wilderness forest location
- Back to nature experience
- Self Catering

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Overview

The name betrays the soul of this fantastic gem of a place. Moon Shine offers (quite literally) hand crafted self-catering forest cabins in a beautiful plot of indigenous forest in the Crags area outside Plettenberg Bay.

Wood-cabins and tree-houses are all very well on paper, but all too often can leave you feeling, well, a little wooden, with vast swathes of bare pine creating gloomy interior spaces. Moonshine avoids that trap and with aplomb. It exudes a genuine authenticity, the kind of place Kevin May (he of Grand Designs) would knowingly say has integrity. Each unit was hand-crafted by owners Albert and Sue, the wood is offset nicely by crisp plastered surfaces, wood-burning stoves and bright single tone furnishings. The piece-de-resistance are the out-of-this-world showers with intricate wall mosaics crafted from strikingly coloured glass that resemble something from Gaudi’s Park Guell. Don’t get us wrong, this is still very much mid-range, it is no temple of self-conscious design led glamping. This is a real passion project, and for the type of person who is happy to lose themselves in the forest and take in the cool mountain air, Moonshine is a fantastic value retreat on the Garden Route.

Set within the 14 hectares of indigenous forest are four wood cabins and one cottage. The Firefly and Bushpig Forest Cabins are perfect for couples, whilst the Treefrog and Vervet Forest cabins sleep 4 and 5 people respectively. The Butterfly Garden Cottage is the exception to the collection, a lovingly restored farm building sleeping 4/5 people. Our favourites are the Garden Cottage and Vervet forest Cabin, which are coincidentally, the two properties that boast the incredible showers. All units have fully equipped kitchens, comfortable beds, fireplaces and veranda, what more do you need? This is very much a self-catering, back to nature experience, don’t come expecting hotel service. For convenience, simple breakfasts can be arranged on request, solving that arrive late, nothing to eat for breakfast, next morning problem.

Facilities include a decent sized swimming pool, nicely designed (young and old) children’s play area and forest trails. The walk through the indigenous forest to the mountain pool is a must. We’d recommend staying for three days minimum and make sure at least one of those is spent on the property, exploring the trails and relaxing by the pool. Despite its sense of isolation Moon Shine is very conveniently located for the beaches around Nature’s Valley and Plett Bay, all of the high quality visitor attractions nearby and the stunning Tsitsikamma National Park.

For Families: It goes without saying that Moon Shine comes into its own as a destination for families. There is loads of space to explore, a swimming pool, nice play area, and of course private cabins with self-catering facilities. But the nice thing here is you get all that without sacrificing the ambience, the sense of being deep within the wild forest and mountains as you enjoy a sun downer on your veranda. And if you can muster yourself there is an embarrassment of superb attractions within 15-20 minutes’ drive, from Monkeyland to the award winning Storm’s River Canopy Tours and numerous beautiful wild beaches.

What customers are saying after travelling with Tourdust

Average Rating

based on 536 reviews

(5.00/5)

  • Thank you, we had an absolute wonderful time, and everything was well-planned and as described. Carla was crying on the day of our departure from Ants Nest, she didn’t want to go home and for it all to end, and when I asked how much longer she would want to stay, she responded “four weeks”

    MissingLars B reviewing Best of South Africa for Families on 01 March 2024

  • It was certainly a holiday of a lifetime for us and we loved every minute!! The standard and location of each accommodation was excellent, as was the variety of each different accommodation type. Our schedule was perfect and we managed to achieve everything on our to-do task list. Your documents were also really helpful, as were the driving directions. We all thank you for making this such a wonderful holiday. Happy to leave a review publicly if you point me the right way. Best Steve

    MissingStephen H reviewing Classic Garden Route & Eastern Cape Safari on 01 September 2023

  • Hi Lisa, We had a fabulous time thank you. The accommodation and other ideation were all terrific - that’s so much for your help. The apartment in Cape Town was particularly good - we would never have found that: Boschendal was great as well and game lodge was superb. Thanks again, Alistair

    MissingAlistair A reviewing Cape Town, Garden Route and Kruger on 28 April 2023

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