NATURAL TREASURE

Master dam builder Iwan Roux, his wife Irene, and celebrated landscape architect Patrick Watson have worked for over two decades to create the Rouxs' family home- a glamorous celebration of their shared lifelong passion for extraordinary environments

- GARETH VAN NIEKERK

Nestled in the heart of the famed Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site-a short 45-minute car trip from Johannesburg's bustling lies the Roux home, lovingly CBD called Reflection. It's an immensely ambitious landscaping and architectural undertaking that is now one of South Africa's most inspired living spaces.

In a valley of vast biological and archaeological riches, the property unfolds over six hectares of painstakingly restored Highveld vegetation. A simple, rusted metal gate slides open to reveal a spectacular driveway whose edges are bounded by intricate water features, lakes, streams, waterfalls, springs, pools, water staircases and thousands of flowering water lilies that provide the perfect welcome for visitors. The extensive waterworks, completed by Iwan Roux, who is one of the country's few master dam builders, echo the natural features of the landscape. They reveal in their curves and bends the riverbed's ancient dolomitic rock, which has lain hidden beneath the water surface for years, now becoming a natural sculpture between rolling lawns.