South Africa safari lodge in the Eastern Cape

Environment
The Karoo holiday experience starts the moment one turns off from the R.75 onto the Sapkamma/Paardepoort gravel road that feeds through the original pass used by the early settlers. Driving along the sometimes narrow and winding road, the daily stresses are soon left behind, as the dramatic Karoo scenery reveals itself. It is here where one begins to understand and appreciate the history behind our South Africa safari lodge.

The reserve was established by consolidating a former hunting farm and the adjacent sheep farms. This private reserve now stretches over 1800 hectares (4448 acres) and is dedicated to wildlife management and breeding programmes, thereby appealing to conservationists, as the region is under constant threat of overgrazing by sheep farmers. It is our intention to keep growing the conservation area of the reserve which will be a tremendous asset to the tourism industry for the region.

The reserve focuses on the sustainable conservancy of wildlife and breeding of some endangered species such as White Rhino and disease-free Cape Buffalo and Bat Eared Fox, as well as some rare species for the region such as Nyala, Waterbuck and Lechwe. Other than our wildlife conservation initiatives, the reserve has also taken showcase steps to minimise its impact on the eco-system and maximise re-utilisation of valuable resources such as energy and water. These initiatives include: use of own borehole water, rainwater conservation tanks, use of solar panels, gravity fed water distribution system, and finally a water treatment system that allows the used water from the Lodge to be treated for irrigation and animal consumption. The Reserve also undertook a potentially significant project for Karoo land recovery in coordination with an agri company which produces starch based water containment process to increase the root development speed of valuable Karoo plants such as Spekboom which is fast gaining worldwide acclaim for having the highest CO2 storing capabilities.

As the reserve falls within a semi-arid area that receives approx 300mm of rainfall per annum, visitors are also educated in terms of water conservation.

Community
Developing the people of the area is also one of the key driving factors of the Lodge’s human resources policy. The management couple, Francois and Karlien, are from the local town of Kirkwood. Francois, a qualified game ranger and Karlien, a fine dining chef, have successfully carried out an invaluable initiative to train and develop the locals from the area, some of whom were previously skilled only as farm labourers, who have now been trained and successfully serving in the various service and recreational responsibilities in the lodge operation.

As the reserve centrally located between the Addo Elephant National Park, Port Elizabeth, Graaff-Reinet and Baviaanskloof, it forms a mid way stay over and enables guests to visit these areas. Over and above the direct revenue benefit, there is an added benefit of guests learning more about eastern cape in general and thus having a domino effect in increasing the over all popularity of Eastern Cape, hence the prosperity of its people.

As one of the early pioneers for bringing tourism to this historically remote farming region, and committed to make a ral show case for giving back to the community, ownership of the lodge had to take some extra ordinary measures to improve the available local staff to fit for the up market hospitality requirements. With ongoing training and mentoring programmes, have provided the former farm employees with various hospitality and recreation skills. This has boosted confidence levels and created a sense of contributing to the wellbeing and success of the business.

Number of health and social programs put in place for these employees to improve their lives. First of all new houses were built for them with en-suite wc and bathrooms, hot water, heating and uninterrupted power. Complimentary clothing, health checks, monthly visits to town for personal needs, educational visits to landmark tourist attractions and other tourism premises, etc. all contributed boosting their self esteem, self confidence and knowledge levels. Introduction and trainings were given for financial awareness and bank accounts have also been opened for all employees which none ever had before.

Employees are seen as team members and a culture of sharing has been nourished e.g. all guest tips are recorded in a file and distributed equally at the end of the month.