A little bit about us

We are trying our utmost to create our own little sustainable off-the-grid piece of heaven right here at Panorama Guest Farm, in the heart of beautiful South African Lowveld.

First and foremost Panorama Guest Farm is an establishment offering accommodation and function venue, we also have a boarding kennel where we watch other peoples’ dogs while they are off on holiday. We have three hundred macadamia trees growing on the property and we have a small snail farm. The macadamia trees are not yet producing, they are only 18 months old and we are hoping to get our first snail harvest in Nov 2023. These ventures need to sustain 5 households, and fund any further improvements, so ultimately producing revenue is quintessential to our model.

Striving towards a self-sufficient way of life, we are already off- the-power-grid, running 100% on solar power, we use gravity fed dam water for the garden and likes, and borehole water for household purposes. We do generate enough power to ensure that we have all the basics one would expect… however do need to nurse the power which is sustained from batteries at night, and in adverse weather, in order to ensure the comfort of everyone. Hairdryers, straightening irons, microwaves, and any other heavy power users should therefor only be used in daylight hours. When we all work together and mind the usage we have uninterrupted power supply. We are in the process of fitting a gutter and tank system to harvest and store rain water.

Panorama is like a little animal mecca, currently we have 5 dogs, our fur kids, about 70 free range chickens, and 10 feral cats, that have over time become semi domesticated. Occasionally we get visits from vervet monkeys, banded mongoose, and we have recorded a 100 species of birds in the garden, although we are still learning and there may well be many more than that… we have seen a porcupine, a red duiker and the odd snake in the yard too… We aspire to create a bird haven—with some strategic planning and planting we would like to turn this into a birders paradise.

We are already growing some of our own food but plan on expanding our garden in order to be fully self-sufficient, this would mean quite a bit of expansion on the growing front, and it is something that is earmarked in our 3 year goal plan as taking priority.

We are also aiming towards constantly reducing waste, re-using and composting what we can and recycling as far as possible. Ultimately we would just like a simple life, living harmoniously with nature and doing our bit for a sustainable future.