Shiwa House itself is the main draw here and visitors can take a guided tour . The great house is full of old family heirlooms, photographs and stories, and standing out on the perfectly manicured lawns you could almost forget that you’re in Southern Africa and imagine instead that you’re at a 1920s garden party on an English summer’s day.
Guided tours of the estate, in a car or on foot, are also possible (though you are also free to wander) and on the estate are 27 species of mammal, including puku, kudu, zebra and wildebeest, although animal lovers should be aware it doubles as a game lodge. Shiwa is also an important birdwatching area with about 380 species recorded here, including long-toed fluff tails, palm-nut vultures, and, by the lake, pygmy geese, herons and kingfishers.
