Kurland Estate is one of the country’s premier centres for polo and the annual international between the United Kingdom and South Africa is played here. Nestling in the foothills of the Tsitsikamma Mountains above the N2 national road, it also houses Kurland Hotel, one of the most exclusive country retreats along the Garden Route. The owners of Kurland have been part of The Crags community for close on 80 years. Most of the other properties forming part of the proposed development lie on the other side of the N2 towards the sea.

The design proposal is underpinned by extensive research into vegetation, wetlands, wildlife, soil types and water availability, in addition to technical studies covering roads, storm-water management, electricity as well as the potential traffic and visual impact of the development.

All the consultants are members of a team headed by Dr Chris Mulder of CMAI Property Development who is responsible for the overall planning and design of the project. Dr Mulder, who obtained his doctorate in landscape architecture from the College of Architecture of Texas University, is one of the country’s foremost landscape and architectural planners. Amongst his many projects counts the redesign of the famous Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. One of his recent development projects is the award-winning Thesen Islands in the Knysna Lagoon.

Although the polo and horse-breeding activities on Kurland will continue, substantial farming operations are envisaged in the form of macadamias and other crops such as essential floral oils. The owners plan to extend the macadamia project to small emergent farmers in the area who will be assisted in establishing orchards, while their crops will be processed and marketed centrally.

Large parts of Kurland Estate, which abuts conservation land managed by SANParks, will be cleared of invasive alien vegetation and the fynbos and wetlands rehabilitated and managed as an asset for the area. Low-key tourist facilities in the form of hiking and horse trials as well as bush camps will
be created.

Kurland Estate will promote a rural lifestyle in a farm-like environment surrounded by macadamia orchards, horse paddocks and polo fields against the backdrop of the Tsitsikamma Mountains. At the same time it will see the extensive upgrading of Kurland Village from a depressed township to a full-service residential area as an integral part
of the overall development.

The owners believe the proposed development fully conforms with the Provincial authorities’ triple bottom line requirement in terms of environmental and socio-economic sustainability, and that it will act as a major economic booster for the area. The planned project, which is expected to create thousands of job opportunities in the medium and long term, is also completely in line with the objectives set out in the government’s recently announced Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA).