African Flame Apartment

African Flame is an upstairs apartment on the corner of Horne Drive and Steenbok Crescent, with a vaulted beamed ceiling over the dining nook and a small balcony off the living room.

An external white staircase and gate climb the side of the building to a private entrance, and that is the only way in. Parking is on the street. The building is semi-detached and the apartment has been soundproofed.

Mustard sofa under beams

The living space is open plan with doors onto the balcony: a wicker chair and a round table, an armchair with a floor mirror by the window, a wardrobe and a dining table beside the glass-paned entrance door. The dining nook sits beneath the vaulted beamed ceiling. The kitchen is open shelving stacked with dishware above a tiled backsplash, with a stovetop, a toaster, a kettle and a fridge. Floors are hardwood.

Double bed, mustard sofa

The bedroom takes a double under those exposed beams, with a mustard sofa and a wicker armchair sharing the room. It sleeps four once the sofa bed is out. There is a wardrobe and linen is provided. The bathroom has an oval vessel sink beneath a wall-mounted tap against subway tiles.

Chevron chairs on the balcony

The balcony carries chevron-patterned wicker chairs and a round table, looking down over the garden, the driveway and the road. It is small, and it is where the coffee gets drunk.

Steenbok Crescent and the reserve

The reserve entrance is close by, beside the lagoon where small boats sit moored among the reeds, with grassy parkland and a wooden fence along the water and a sandy tidal flat past that. Steenbok Nature Reserve costs nothing and never closes. If a house suits better, there are houses to rent on the island.

Four at a squeeze

A couple, or a small family using the sofa bed, wanting beams, a balcony and a nature reserve at the end of the road.