Alpaca wool is many times stronger than sheep’s, water resistant, and hypoallergenic. In fact, there’s very little not to like about these quirky animals. Read about a local alpaca farm’s methods on

Water-resistant, hypoallergenic, fire-retardant, and stronger than sheep’s wool, alpaca wool is sought-after the world over. And a small farm in the Western Cape’s Overberg just happens to be making some of the best you’ll find, while rearing a happy herd of animals.

JUST BEYOND the Rooihoogte Pass on the R43, north of Villiersdorp in the Overberg, you’ll find a road that turns off to ‘Koppies’. One kilometre down that road, you’ll encounter Helderstroom Alpacas, a handsome farm owned by Christopher and Alison Notley. They raise alpacas, turn their fleece into yarn, and make some of the finest alpaca products you’ll find anywhere in South Africa.

‘We took over Helderstroom in 2002, and then spent six months renovating the house. Once a hunting lodge belonging to Cape governor Lord Charles Somerset, the property’s history really endeared it to us,’ explains Alison. ‘Our alpaca journey began in 2004 with the arrival of five pregnant alpacas from Chile. It has been fun being part of a brand new agroindustry in South Africa, with all of us pioneering our way forward.’

Alpacas are rare and have some of the finest animal fibres on the planet. Longer than cashmere, and far finer and stronger than sheep’s wool, alpaca wool is fire-retardant, water-resistant and hypoallergenic,

and will neither stretch nor shrink if cared for correctly. It also comes in 22 classifications of colour and shade, making alpacas the most colour-diversified fibre-bearing animal in the world.

At Helderstroom, they handprocess the fibre. The 50-strong herd is roughly half male and half female. Shearing takes place in the spring, in October, before the onset of the hot summer heat in the Western Cape – then, too much of the grass turns brown, breaks and gets stuck in the fleeces. When being sheared, each alpaca is lowered gently to the ground and restrained with ropes and slip knots to protect the animals and workers. It takes about 15 minutes. The team skirts as they shear, meaning they remove the obvious guard hair from the fleece – these are the coarser primary fibres, thicker than 30 microns. Fibres 28 microns or more in thickness make people itch, so are seldom used for clothing.

Fleeces are separated into three parts: Prime – from the animal’s withers to the top of the tail and around the saddle area – then the legs, and the neck, of which the leg fibres tend to be coarser. Neck fibre

Alpacas are inquisitive animals, but can resort to spitting when they feel threatened. They have a strong herd instinct, and serve well as guard animals.