The story of Zoete Inval Travellers Lodge in Hermanus is a sweet tale of many cities and cultures that connects people across all barriers and borders.
It embodies the journey of two spirited adventurers from two opposite sides of the world – a South African medical doctor and a Canadian farm girl whose paths crossed in a small Canadian town, Birch Hills, in the mid 1980’s. Together they travelled and explored Canada, Japan and South Africa, and eventually got married and settled in Hermanus to create a welcoming haven for all travellers from all outskirts of the world.
The name Zoete Inval means literally what it is in Dutch – a sweet, welcoming and spontaneous drop-in or visit to a homely place in a foreign country with a foreign culture. Just what owners Jan and Marilyn van der Velden wanted to create 30 years ago – a home away from home where people from all corners of the world can feel welcome, accepted and at ease.
Says Marilyn: “Zoete Inval was originally Jan’s dream and idea to provide a warm, welcoming haven for weary travellers from across the globe – similar to the lodges where he stayed during his travelling years. I was initially so overwhelmed by the cultural and lifestyle adaption in SA, that it took me four years to realize that it was actually also my childhood dreams come true . . .
“As a young, insecure farm girl with five older brothers and two younger siblings, I secretly always dreamed of a house with a loft and to live close to the sea and mountains. I also wanted to make people feel welcome, accepted and at home. It is amazing that Jan unknowingly fulfilled all my secret childhood dreams . . . “
Their story – how it all started:
Dr Jan van der Velden was working as a locum MD at a health clinic on the top floor of a building in Birch Hills where Marilyn Smith stayed as a kindergarten teacher. He heard from locals about the lovely Miss Smith and soon used the excuse of needing a Spanish dictionary to learn Spanish for a planned mountaineering expedition to Mount Aconcagua, the highest point in the Southern Andes Mountains.
“Obviously, I had no Spanish dictionary, so I referred him to the local library, but his ploy to break the ice worked well.”
Photos: Jan and his team mates heading towards their base camp Plaza del Meulas (left). Interesting ice pedestals on their route along Mount Aconcagua.
They remained in contact when Jan moved to Chile in South America for another locum tenure and during his regular visits, they travelled and explored Canada from coast to coast. Marilyn introduced Jan to her home country where she grew up skiing, ice skating, white water canoeing on the Church Hill and Saskatchewan Rivers, curling and even trained to do parachute jumping. Her first and last parachute jump was an unforgettable, but daunting experience when the lines got tangled, but she managed to land safely albeit badly bruised. “I never did parachute jumping again, but funnily enough I had the opportunity to experience a tandem-paragliding adventure years later in South Africa.”
Together they undertook camper trips to Vancouver, the Rockies, etc. and when Jan moved to Newfoundland in the east of Canada, Marilyn also visited him there.
In 1988, Jan finally returned to South Africa and Marilyn used her Canadian granted off-year after working for four years to travel to South East Asia and then to SA to visit Jan. It was his turn to show off the beauty of his birth country where he grew up in the northern suburbs of Cape Town.
A true outdoor lover who since young preferred solitary activities in nature to team sport, Jan loved hiking, mountaineering, snorkeling and scuba-diving in his free time. In the 1970s he also took to the skies – first with a glider in the Swellendam area and later he also piloted his own 2-seater 150 Cessna and 5-seater Socato Ralye 3 aircrafts. Photos: Jan in his element in his Socato Ralye3 aircraft.
By the time Marilyn had to leave SA, the travel bug had bitten her so badly that she couldn’t return to her old teaching lifestyle in Canada. She took the leap to move to Japan as an English teacher – first in the private sector and eventually as one of the first foreign English-speaking teachers in the Japanese government school system.
“Those three years in Japan were like a Rubicon I crossed. The Japanese treated me like Royalty and for the first time in my life, I felt fully accepted for who I am as a person instead of what I could do. People would invite me for weekends just so I can speak English to them. It was a blast. I felt appreciated for just being me”, she reminisces.
It was during one of his visits to Japan that Jan asked Marilyn to marry him and to come live in SA with him.
Meanwhile Jan worked as locum MD in Brakpan and then at the Mossel Bay Provincial Hospital where he eventually also established his own private practice in Heiderand, then a new suburb in Mossel Bay that was developed during the Mossgas (PetroSA) hype in the 1980s. During this time he also started renovating a historical single storey thatched roof house in Hermanus which he bought in the late 1970’s for R62 000. Inspired by the various communal lodges where he stayed during his travels and hiking expeditions abroad, he wanted to build a similar communal-type lodge for travellers.
It was this house on the corner of Flora and Main Road in Hermanus that would eventually become their home and Zoete Inval – the first Backpackers establishment in the Hermanus area that gradually evolved into the popular Travellers Lodge of today.
In October 1992 the couple got married in a family ceremony on the farm of Jan’s sister and brother-in-law in Prince Albert and shortly afterwards they relocated to Hermanus. Together they gradually converted the old barnhouse-style home into a spacious triple-storey house with a separate loft where stables used to be.
It was hard, ongoing work over 30 years, but very rewarding as the couple initially planned and did everything themselves with the help of contractors and local workers. Zoete Inval started as a communal Backpackers Lodge where guests brought their own sleeping bags, towels and other necessities. In the early 1990s commune-style lodging was still a rarity in South Africa and it was mostly foreigners and special interest groups such as governmental or school groups that would book all the rooms.
Marilyn fondly remembers those times when the entire lodge was filled with the cheerful sound of children and teachers on weekend sport trips; or when a governmental organisation for people with physical and mental disabilities booked the lodge for three nights with breakfast, lunch and dinner included. “The way those people with disabilities supported and helped each other, was an inspiration and lesson to us all.”
Another highlight was when a group of students and teachers from Reunion island stayed at Zoete Inval during their visit to the then Shark Conservancy Research Centre in Hermanus. “We daily provided all three meals and it was so much fun to have them here.”
Their worst experiences were with adult sport teams – especially rugby clubs – who misbehaved so badly that they eventually stopped catering for such large groups.
Photos: Marilyn feeding the Koi fish in one of the ponds they skillfully built in the garden. Jan busy building and painting to create a cozy and comfortable haven for touists and travellers at their home
Today, Zoete Inval with its beautiful, established garden exudes a serene tranquility and offers the same RE-experience that its owners intended: “REjeuvenate, RElax and REcharge in the REfreshing atmosphere committed to environment conservation and community upliftment.”
The lodge and apartments provide accommodation for up to 40 guests and range from a luxurious ensuite double-bed suite for B&B style and family accommodation to self-catering dormitory accommodation in two lofts.
The House has seven private rooms, on two levels, that provide comfortable B&B style accommodation. This includes a suite suitable for family accommodation that sleeps four. Two of the rooms are wheelchair accessible. Each second floor room is fitted with a stow-away bench which doubles as a sleeper couch so a third person may share the room at an extra charge.
The Loft consists of two dormitories, a double room and another family suite. Accommodation in The Loft is backpacker hostel / self-catering style accommodation.
The loyal, friendly and professional staff works well as a team and ensures the smooth running of the establishment. Manager Roseline Minnaar has been with Zoete Inval almost since the beginning and has become a trusted and beloved member of the family.
Marilyn and Jan with their team in one of the beautiful spots in the garden. From left are Marilyn, Roseline, Albertina Gashe, Jan, Cynthia Ncumeza and Randall Carelse.
Today, Zoete Inval Traveller’s Lodge still provides a RE-experience for the budget conscious traveller. Many old guests who stayed here up to twenty years ago, still kept contact, while many has come back to stay here again in their favourite “home away from home” in Hermanus.
As their website states: REjeuvenate, RElax and REcharge in the REfreshing atmosphere committed to environment conservation and community upliftment. REcreate takes on a new meaning through their application of full-on REcycle, REuse and REduce policies and support of the “REcycle Swop Shops”. Come experience REstoration of your body, soul and spirit in our lush garden, enjoy the fresh garden greens or soak up the sun in the mountain view jacuzzi.
info@zoeteinval.co.za
+27 (0) 78 583 4101
23 Main Road, Hermanus
