A fallow site on Lourensford Wine Estate in Somerset West in the Western Cape that was previously used for plums has been transformed into a subterranean wonder.

Five metres below the ground and accessed by a curved ramp that is also wheelchair friendly, a 24m-long excavated chamber is revealed. This is Earthbox, which the organisers claim is a world first.

Reaching Earthbox is by means of a tractor-drawn trailer that passes Bon Chretien pear orchards and sunflower fields on land previously dedicated to Chardonnay grapes.

Best known for its wine production, Lourensford also has 90ha to apples and pears, 85ha to plums and 42ha of vineyards.

About 22ha of avocado are also part of its 4 000ha area on a historic farm, originally owned by Willem Adriaan van der Stel and established in 1700.

Lourensford has an on-site cellar with wine-tasting and sales facilities, but the other fruit is marketed through New Vision, based in Durbanville in the Western Cape.

The Lourensford Market is a popular foodie experience and the Millhouse Kitchen is also acclaimed.

The Coffee Roasting Company as well as Lourensford’s sculpture-rich gardens and retail outlets all contribute to making this a destination farm.

But, since November 2023, Earthbox has brought an entirely different focus. According to Lourensford general manager Koos Jordaan, the estate is proud that such an initiative was born and bred in South Africa.

“Earthbox is an attraction of a high international standard. The Dream Commission, the people who conceptualised and manage Earthbox, have given us all an even greater appreciation of the earth beneath our feet,” he says.

Marina Busse, The Dream Commission founder and director, says: “Play is important to me, and I often wonder why we lose the tendency to play as we get older.”

Brad Baard is The Dream Commission creative director, who says that through their projects he invites people into experiences that stir feelings, stimulate thought and deepen awareness.

Both have impressive resumés that include Tate Modern in London and the Cape Town Carnival.

They envisioned the installation as “a place of reflection, a pause in the busy-ness of life. Visitors are required to put away their phones and simply take in the encounter – a seldom-accessed experience of the world below our feet.”

Formed over millennia

The main chamber of Earthbox visibly intersects the course of old streams and rivers and is evidence of the changing conditions that shaped the land over millennia, all layered above some of the oldest rock formations in the Western Cape.

The Lourensford River Valley formed from mountains of Table Mountain Group sandstone and Malmesbury shale.

The sand and mud were deposited between 510 and 340 million years ago as part of a 7km-thick sediment succession.

These sediments were then buried and transformed into hard rock and eventually were uplifted and worn away by erosion into their present exposures.

The Malmesbury Group was formed 550 million years ago by the gradual depositing of silt near the shores of an ancient sea and now constitutes layers of fine-grained rock that run kilometres deep, brought near the surface by the collision of continents.

Organisers say that it was the reworked residual Malmesbury soil (eroded from Malmesbury shale and suitably dense) that made the excavation possible, and this is why Lourensford is one of the few places where Earthbox could be constructed.

Dappled patterns of red in the chamber walls reflect iron oxide deposits formed by varying water levels.

Deep incisions filled with stones and sand are evidence of more recent erosion: gullies and grooves cut down into older layers that were subsequently filled.

Widespread layers of cobbles required widespread movement of water as occurs during flooding.

This could have happened during a cataclysmic event that abruptly transformed the landscape within as little as a week or may have taken thousands or even millions of years to form.

Astonishingly, though modern humans are relatively recent residents of this area (in the last 200 000 years), the tools of earlier human ancestors have been found in the region in layers as deep as Earthbox, making them up to 2,5 million years old.

This places the story of humanity far back into the Earth’s records here.

Entering a different world

Farmer’s Weekly attended the Sunday Sessions Music Series in the chamber on a Sunday early in January to hear Afrofuturist electronica producer and DJ Skai Lounge.

The sensation of entering the chamber is an important part of the experience. As natural light diminishes and one’s eyes become more accustomed to the darkened space, the textures of the walls and floor surface become clearly visible.

Thankfully there is a balustrade to hold on to until one enters the chamber. The walls feel damp and cool, and experiencing the floor without shoes on is special.

As someone who suffers with claustrophobia who had to once hot-tail it out of an Egyptian pyramid, I found Earthbox very spacious, with a high-volume area above standing height that doesn’t feel at all confined.

The music and performance aspects of the visit were very enjoyable but the experience of being in the earth was the highlight.

Yoga and dance

Visitors can also experience Earthbox through yoga, Nia, Pilates and, in collaboration with Life Retreat, daily 8am underground wellness sessions in the chamber, as well as geology and mindfulness-based experiences.

While there had been plans to dismantle Earthbox at the end of May this year, its popularity and the continued soundness of the engineering mean that its run might be extended.

For Farmer’s Weekly, the Earthbox experience was akin to time-travelling: an opportunity to gaze into the remarkable layers that came before the ground we see today.

Incredibly ancient and thoroughly modern, this is an underground happening where you’d least expect it.

Adult tickets range from R170 to R250 and can be booked online via Earthbox.co.za.
Earthbox is cashless.