You Are Here: Home:

Viewers Currently Viewing Site

Visits to Page

The Observatory consists of a 25” (62 cm) and a 16” (40 cm) Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope. The 25” is a Newtonian / Cassegrain Bradford telescope made by the Rand Corporation in the USA. It is the largest privately owned telescope in South Africa and the largest professional telescope in amateur hands in the Southern Hemisphere. The 16” (40 cm)Meade LX200 operates with an Apogee 7 CCD camera. The CCD camera makes the 16” LX200 telescope very powerful for the deep-sky photography of very faint and distant objects. It is used for Comet hunting as well as for Supernova searches.Visitors to the Observatory are given the chance to make use of both telescopes. Guests will be called to look through the 25” telescope usually on a table basis, before and during the various courses of food ordered in the restaurant in a feast of “Astronomy with Gastronomy”.

The 16” telescope is usually used during and after desserts to look at objects that are to faint to be

seen with the 25” telescope and the human eye. The images are projected onto a screen in the

restaurant. A short Comet hunt and/or Supernova hunt add to the excitement of the evening. It is

quite possible that a dining guest will one day discover a Comet from the comfort of his or her

dinner table at the Observatory Restaurant.

The Observatory Restaurant is ideally suited for private functions and corporate events. The

resident astronomer is your “Tour guide of the Night Sky”. The cost of the Astronomy is R100.00 per

person. The Menu is a la carte and a 10% gratuity will be added to the Food/Bar bill. Starting time

is 19h30.

The Observatory Restaurant has been mentioned in the book “Extreme Restaurants of the world” by Birgit Krols in 2008.

Observatory

Dining Under The Stars

Astronomy and Gastronomy are combined with the largest privately owned telescope in Southern Africa and a Fine Dining Cuisine to match the heavenly bodies that can be seen through the telescope. The Observatory is situated at Aloe Ridge Hotel & Game Reserve and prides itself as being the first venue in the world where the concept of Dining with

the Stars was pioneered in 1998. It is the only venue in the world where live comet hunting can be enjoyed in the comfort of a restaurant.