Africa was a wild and untamed place when Joachim Sax first made his way up to the hills above the Kuils River, some 30 kilometres east of the Dutch settlement at the “Cape of Good Hope”. The year was 1693, and Sax was one of only 350 “free burgers” (free farmers) granted land by the 9th Dutch Governor, Simon van der Stel.

Together with his wife, Susanna, Sax had arrived some two years before from his native town of Egeln, in Germany. He immediately set about planting vines, and built the original manor house in 1701. Four years later he sold the farm to Olaff and Albertus Bergh. The name Saxenburg developed from these early pioneers.

Almost three centuries were to pass before the historic farm was acquired by the Bührer family from Switzerland – Adrian, his wife Birgit and their children. They, along with their close working team, have revived the proud family tradition of Saxenburg’s historic past.