Safari - so goody! Kuzuku Lodge, Oudtshoorn and Stellenbosch

Last leg of our South Africa trip and for me the best bit! This is what I have wanted to do for years - go on a safari! Kuzuko Lodge is a fantastic 5 star lodge on a private game reserve within Addo Elephant Park. Just coming out of a severe drought the herd sizes in this unique reserve may not compare to what can be found in the likes of the Kruger National Park but  you will go far and wide to find the quality of up close game viewing Kuzuko has to offer through it`s fantastic rangers. The first task was getting there. Over 5 hours wit the last 30km over the stoniest, rockiest gravel road I`ve been on called the R400 - not for a VW Polo but hey - it was a hire car with full damage waiver and sat nav supplied by the Holiday Place. What was it like! Marvellous luxury living with unsurpassed service. How the Holiday Place got this place for 3 nights including 6 game drives within our price for the whole package I just don`t know.

View from the lodge balcony of lower chalets overlooking the waterhole

Our "room"

On the balcony

 The food, the service, the environment were all superb but of course what made it were the game drives and the chance to get up close to the animals.

 We actually went walking with cheetahs!

 Within 3 meters of the lions who were thankfully dozing no doubt after a catch!

  So many more animal shots but perhaps the most exciting was seeing the black rhino which usually hides in the bush. Saw on the news yesterday that this animal is expected to become extinct within 10 years such has been the trade in rhino horn over this last 10 years - how can people be so stupid!!!!

The other highlight had to be the sundowners - drinks on a ridge or by a lake when the sun was going down on the 4pm game drive - magical! Did hear one American complaining about the poor range of drinks on the sundowner "at the prices we paid". Unbelievable - the ranger drives us through the toughest bush within feet of the animals whatever the incline / obstacle in their fantastic Toyota landcruisers and they complain about the drinks. I thought they were joking when they said "Fancy a drink" before pulling out a table, nibbles, chilled white wine, red wine, beers , soft drinks and chilled glasses! Fantastic service and beautiful to experience with the zebra and buffalo on the plain below.

The other highlight was our two trucks on the last ride getting so close to a young bull elephant eager to stand his ground and show who was boss. The rangers held their ground as to give way would have meant the elephant charging all other vehicles in future. They have to learn to recognise and accept the shape and noise of the trucks so we all kept quite and waited until it decided to eat. The front truck got closest at first - our ranger was more excite to find a fresh water crab in the ditch we were going through. Ignoring the excitement ahead he caught it and took photos on his phone as it was such a rare spot in this area. Other rangers shared his excitement later when we took the mickey out of him. he couldn`t believe we`d rather see the bull elephant up close

 

Sue managed to fit in an Indian head massage instead of a game drive when they allowed us to do 3 activities in one day as we had to leave early on the last. I went on a cave walk with Freddy, Neil and Gail. Freddy was passionate about the caves and their drawings at least 500 years old which they were hoping proved the existence of giraffes in that area as currently they have 2 giraffes in a separate part of the reserve which they are not allowed to introduce by the government who say they are not indigenous to the Karoo. The drawings suggest otherwise.

  It was nice meeting Neil and Gail on the trip. Thanks to Gail we all had to do an even harder trek to the 2nd cave as Freddy seemed to think we were up to it. Thanks Gail - scambling and sliding away was really fun and me and Neil were most appreciative ;-)

 We were told that  mixing water with this dassie poo would be really good for our systems. I went straight back to the Lodge and had Karoo lamb - to hell with my system!

 

 

 

With a heavy heart we left Kuzuko and did an even longer journey over more dirt roads to Oudtshoorn. Have to say lovely hotel but nothing much going for the town and we were amazed by the difference from the whites dominated street we were on to the main streets frequented by black South Africans with clothes stores making Primark look like a high fashion boutique. I went there in search of duct tape to try to repair my rapidly disintegrating suitcase which had been dropped from a great height by baggage handlers in Manchester or Dubai and now had 3 wide cracks and one wheel missing. I`ve just had my appeal for reimbursement rejected by Emirates as I failed to see / report it at the arrival airport. Good job it was a cheap case.

The road to Oudtshoorn was lovely - wild flowers, mountain vistas and tortoises walking in the road. We narrowly missed a huge one when being overtaken - would have taken our sump out if we had hit it at 120 kmph. Fortunately it was walking right up the line in the middle- would have loved a shot of it but too fast to stop. Managed to rescue this one though-

Once at Oudtshoorn visits to Kango Caves and the Ostrich Farm followed. The caves were well organised but I`ve seen better.

 

The ostrich farm was a great laugh - such sweet dumb birds. We saw them being cruelly ridden, petted them, got massages from them and were invited to stand on their eggs - the equivalent of 24 ordinary eggs evidently.

 

Deciding that we had not seen enough off the dirt tracks we tested the Polo further by going up the Swartberg Pass. Tarmac road until it just starts to get a little narrow and dangerous with big drops so it changes to a slippy gravel track. We took in the views, got so far and then turned about whence we came - hire car or not there is a limit to what I am going to do to risk body and limb.

Our final long drive took us to Stellenbosch for a limited one night stay before getting to the airport. We managed to fly past the well known Ronnies Sex Shop bar - a bar only where his mates graffiti had changed the image somewhat ;-). Instead we took a risk following a sign to the Blue Cow a little off the beaten track and it was simply magical with birds building nests around us, huge fish and great food and vistas.

Toilet facilities were limited!

Stellenbosch gave us a chance to walk around one of the few pretty towns we had come across (save Hermanus) and sample a great local deli (Melissa`s) in a hotel where the porter boasted of the 2nd door in our room out to a smoking area protected by an 8ft wall and electrified fence with barred windows - yes high security living again.

 

I had hoped to visit a township to see an African dance / theatre presentation but it did not start until October. I refused to visit any township as a gawping tourist taking pictures of the poor people!

Next morning it was off to the airport pausing only to cling film wrap my case hoping it would stay together with that and duct tape we embarked on another 17+ hours of flying but with only a 1.5 hour rest over in Dubai this time. We had a great time in South Africa. We saw less of the cultural diversity such as in India and Egypt but then this one was all about the animals and we`ll never forget our experiences with them and Kuzuku Lodge.

 

It was a blast South Africa and well worth the trip.