At the beginning of 2026, we began our partnership with Reflections Eco-Reserve – a conservation-led reserve along South Africa’s iconic Garden Route. It lies on the Rondevlei, within the Wilderness Lakes, a Ramsar-recognised wetland surrounded by the Garden Route National Park.
For over twenty years, land owners Tim and Angelique Carr have restored 80 hectares of pine and wattle plantation into one of the most significant private conservation projects along the Garden Route.
Site Visit and Strategy
The start of our work with new partners always begins by getting on the ground to understand the destination, the product, and, importantly, the owner’s vision and direction.
Tim and Angelique hosted our team, and we explored the reserve and its surroundings. They walked us around the property, showing us the Rondevlei teeming with birdlife, the decomposing pine trees, and explaining which trees they had planted by hand, and which plants had naturally returned to the area as a result of their efforts.
We walked through their impressive family eco-chalets and glamping tents, and experienced their famous breakfast that’s included in every guest’s stay.
We’re making this all sound a little too ‘holiday-on-the-Garden-Route,’ so you should know that the day after we arrived, we sat down with our laptops and whiteboard markers and started our strategy workshop. From key accommodation details to their ‘why’ behind Reflections Eco-Reserve, we learnt as much as possible about this restored landscape.
From there, we worked with the Carrs in defining their vision and mission statements; creating marketing goals; crafting campaigns we collectively wanted to run over the year; identifying partners Reflections could collaborate with, target audiences, social media metrics, and the collateral they had versus what they still needed.
Site inspections give us insight into our partners’ vision for their property and allow us to experience what the guests experience, which ultimately helps us market it more effectively. We are able to capture ‘on-the-ground’ content which always performs well online as it’s fresh, new, and instant.
The shoot
New strategy comes with new content. At times, this is often needed after we have workshopped the campaigns and content plan. Visuals are a vital part of the marketing plan.
April on the Garden Route brings sunny skies, mild temperatures, autumn blooms, and a little rain (which is why there are blooms).
Our film and photography team flew down for a three-night shoot and captured everything from the sunrise over the Rondevlei to the tiny details of the chalets and tents. We filmed and photographed the activities available on the reserve and, as no shoot comes without its small challenges, battled a little bit of wind and cloud – a nightmare for any media team whose catch phrase is ‘Chase the light.’ However, the sun eventually burnt off the clouds, and we were pleased to have a selection of photos to showcase Reflections Eco-Reserve.
Collateral and a Marketing plan
By the end of April, between the Love Africa Marketing and Reflections teams, we had approved the new stills, a clean, simplified website, and a beautiful short film that not only showcases the reserve but also emphasises the need for humans to spend time in nature. These were all launched in May as part of the collated marketing document, which outlines the strategy and our action plans for the remainder of 2026.
We looked at tourism trends along the Garden Route and reports detailing who visits and when, as well as Reflections’ social media platforms and its current audience, to align the target market. We laid out the year, looking at key international days and seasons that we could plan campaigns around, and created a strategy for the year, what we’re posting at certain times of the year, and who we are targeting.
Our campaigns have included the Garden Route as a general travel destination and Reflections’ position within this destination. We’ve looked at the activities both onsite and offsite, their accommodation options, and have a ‘Secret Season’ campaign in the works as the Garden Route isn’t generally a popular winter destination (but it should be!).
Milestones
Since implementing the marketing plan, Reflections has grown its Facebook followers by 2.5K% new followers and increased its views by 16.9K%. On Instagram, their following has grown by 547.6% new followers, and views by 2.1K%.
A few interesting stats…..
- On Facebook, the short film reached 99,823 accounts, and on Instagram, it reached 42,029 accounts.
- On Facebook, the short film has 152,851 views, and on Instagram, it has 42,475 views.
We set up a newsletter account for Reflections and grew the newsletter database from 10 email addresses to over 100 within two months. We have designed a template for the newsletter following the reserve’s Corporate Identity and set up a Meta Lead ad to generate newsletter signups, which has proven very successful.
We have also worked with Tim and Ang to grow their network by connecting with tourism groups and tour operators, off-site amenities, and activities that they recommend their guests try out when at the reserve.
We are very excited about our new partnership and are privileged to play a part in showcasing such a beautiful part of South Africa.
