Africa Wild

Nice sightings PJL.

Those cubs are too cute...well done Aardlam!

will be on the lookout for them

WoW PJL,

thos tusks on the warthog are amazing - love the shots and so many elands

Aardlam is looking more than good and her cute cubs as well - She seems to be a brilliant mother

Last week we were privileged to spend a couple of days at Kuzuko lodge which is a private concession in the greater Addo area (still part of the national park). It borders the Darlington Dam section on the far north-east of the park and is quite an exclusive lodge which caters more for the overseas visitor than local, but we were fortunate to be treated to a stay as part of an inheritance from my Grandma.

The luxury of the place was evident on arrival, and the kids didn't take long to adapt to their pampered surroundings







Whilst settling in, our excitement was dampened by the news that our good friend Craig had passed away. Some of you may have heard me mention him and use a few of his photos on this thread - he ran a tourism business here in PE and was a truly excellent guide, having won a number of Lilizela Tourism Awards for his work. Even before venturing into tourism he was already very well known throughout the city from his days working as a church youth pastor and he will be sorely missed by everyone he met

Kuzuko lodge .......

There are close to no limits when it comes to the best that money can buy. Quite a sumptuous meal (breakfast?)

Looking forward to what is happening next

Food pics!

But no marmite?

Funny how you Cape people try and make fancy lodges because you miss Kruger!

Sorry about Craig, PJL..

what a luxe... seems to be
cute little one

Ja, Craig seemed to have been a very helpful soul... and it's kinda sad that I never got the chance to talk to him while we were in Addo.
With all I read, we really missed something not making his acquaintance

On the brighter side... I love the expression in D's face. Quite clearly that food tray is something else for him

Kuzuko Lodge looks nice The prices not so

Very fancy.

Sorry about your friend, Craig.

Lis that particular offering was 'high tea'
The meals were all fantastic! And as you say Mel, the prices were... well... thankfully not something I had to worry about

RP I hear where you're coming from, but I think this is more to cater for the garden route tourist. Akin to Sabi Sands luxury in proximity to PE airport
It was all quite a novelty for us

Something I forgot to mention is that to get to Kuzuko you have to drive along about 40km of dirt road. Nothing too bad there you might say, but it's really not in a good state of repair (roadworks are underway to rectify that)... so on arrival we discovered a puncture which thankfully they took care of during our stay

The guides are assigned to you for the duration of your stay, and ours went by the name of 'Danger Ranger'. I think for some reason he was embarrassed about his real name which we later found out was Ronald

Our first afternoon/evening excursion took us to the north-east part of the reserve, and we heard news that the lions were apparently fighting so we headed that way. Sylvester the famous escapee from the Karoo was transferred to Kuzuko, and was paired up with Josie's boy from Addo who they named Fielies. You might also remember that when Gina died a couple of years back, her 6 month old cubs were eventually found alive and the 2 girls are now also at Kuzuko - called Angel and Nicka.

Since Sylvester's transfer and the introduction of Fielies, the 2 boys were kept in a relatively small enclosure so that they could bond and get used to the girls who were outside their enclosure, but still in an enclosed area. The boys have now been released into the same area as the girls, so they are all roaming a 200 hectare area... sometimes making kills for themselves and sometimes being fed as there aren't many kudu left in that enclosure now.

The fighting had settled down by the time we arrived - Sylvester was basically showing his dominance to the girls, and once that has settled down they plan to release all 4 lion into the full area of Kuzuko. Despite 200 hectares not being a massive area, we were still very fortunate that the lion were out very close to one of the tracks

Sylvester with flehmen response


Angel hoping Sylvester might go away and leave them in peace


Nicka looked to have taken a few scratches on her back


It was great to see Fielies again. He's really big now and there's no doubt he's going to be a huge lion when fully grown!






The wind was really starting to blow hard, so as we left the lions I was able to get some nice portraits of Sylvester with his mane blowing in the wind