Kerstin Heisterkamp & Dietmar Keil
Meet the humans behind Manor House Alpacas. On a smallholding outside Paarl, they raise a herd of nearly 400 alpacas and make products from alpaca wool on site.
Where did you meet?
Dietmar: I was born in Windhoek, Namibia, and grew up on a sheep farm near Mariental. Kerstin hails from a small village just south of Munich in Germany.
Kerstin: After meeting in Namibia, we lived in Munich and then in London for the better part of three years before overlanding from London to Cape Town in 2002.
How did you start farming with alpacas? Kerstin: When we arrived in Paarl in 2002, Dietmar worked mainly as a cabinetmaker, but we kept a small, 10-hectare farm on the side with a cow and some sheep. The farm expanded and we started raising dairy calves and keeping pigs.
Dietmar: When we visited the agricultural show at Bien Donné in 2004, we stumbled across alpacas, and like anybody else who meets these gentle, doe-eyed creatures for the first time, we were intrigued. Prospects of farming with them in South Africa looked good, so we bought seven.
Where do alpacas come from and why are they suited to the South African climate? Kerstin: Nowadays, wild alpacas are mainly found on the Altiplano, a high-altitude desert that stretches between Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Argentina with frost almost 270 nights a year. At the time of the Incas, however, they used to roam across the whole of South America until Spanish settlers introduced sheep and cattle. The presence of these animals pushed the alpacas back to the Altiplano.
Dietmar: Luckily alpacas thrive in a variety of climates. Australia has successfully been farming alpacas since the 1980s and now has the largest alpaca population outside of South America. Alpacas can also be found in Europe,
North America, Africa, and lately in Asia, too. Here in South Africa we have an Alpaca Breeders Society with around 50 members farming alpacas successfully all over the country as well as in Namibia.
Tell us about the looms on your farm.
Kerstin: When we started farming alpacas, we had intended to breed them only for sale, but five years later – in 2009 – we had an opportunity to take over some spinning wheels and handweaving looms from a fellow alpaca breeder who was emigrating. It has been an exciting journey ever since!
As we progressed and learnt more about spinning and weaving, we bought more hand looms and a semi-industrial mechanical loom. Dietmar: We started off selling our alpaca products at various craft markets and agricultural shows, but we soon realised that it would be far better to bring people to the source, our farm, where we could share the magic of alpacas with them.
What happened next?
Kerstin: In 2014 we opened the Alpaca Loom Coffee Shop and Weaving Studio on the farm. Weavers on hand looms weave on-site, and we sell woven products like scarves, shawls, ponchos and blankets in the coffee shop. Dietmar: Guests can also meet and feed some of our friendly alpacas. If you’d like to find out more about how it all works, we do barn tours three times a day, where we show guests our breeding herd and teach them about the alpaca. Meeting our youngest alpacas, called crias, is a highlight!
What is special about alpaca fibre? Dietmar: Have you ever touched an alpaca? Their wool is one of the finest natural fibres in the world, comparable to cashmere. It comes in 22 natural shades, including black, fawn, champagne, silver, rose, grey and white. It’s the only fibre-producing animal to naturally produce such a broad spectrum of colours for weaving. Advanced alpaca fleeces are high in density, long in staple and fast-growing, with a soft handle and silky feel.
Kerstin: Alpaca wool contains much less lanolin than other animal fibres – lanolin is that oily substance you get on your hands after touching sheep. Our hand-knitters in the factory say they will never be able to enjoy knitting with other yarns again; they’ve been spoilt by alpaca yarn!
How many alpacas do you have? Dietmar: We currently have 390 adults with about 120 crias due in the next 12 months. We also have some sheep, llamas, five dromedaries, two donkeys and three horses; not to mention freeroaming chickens, geese and peacocks. It’s a menagerie!
What’s next for the farm?
Kerstin: We’re looking to bring in more woolgrowing animals like angora goats, merino sheep and Awassi sheep. Long term, we’re still growing the alpaca herd with the aim to one day run 1 000 alpacas commercially.
– Kyra Tarr
VISIT THE ALPACAS! Where?
Opening times: Contact: