Death of Tshukudu Game Lodge Founder and Son

I am very sorry to announce that the founder of Tshukudu Game Lodge in Limpopo, Ala Sussens and her son Ian Sussens were killed in a car accident on 6 April 2010. Ala was a safari doyenne, one who cared deeply for animals and was known to take in any injured animal and nurse them back to life. This is why on any visit to Tshukudu you are likely to find tame animals like leopard, cheetah, elephant and any number of other creatures that you can actually touch.

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Brothers Safaris offers African safaris with a difference. Dr Peter Brothers is an African wildlife Vet and Registered Tourist Guide, who allows you the rare opportunity to enter his world.  

His next safari immobilizes lions to monitor and treat them in the Amakhala Game Reserve, near Port Elizabeth. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime hands-on experience with lions that very few people are privileged to encounter. He involves you in the procedures carried out while the lion is immobilized, like blood sampling or collaring. Or you can simply observe and monitor a wild lion while this giant pussy cat is fast asleep (hoping all the while that he doesn’t wake up)!

Amakhala Game Reserve have rhino (white + black), elephant, cheetah, buffalo, lion, giraffe, black wildebeest, zebra, tortoise and over 16 antelope species and this veterinary safari allows time for traditional game drives and learning more about African wildlife.

 Dr William Fowlds - a wildlife veterinarian and the co-host of this veterinary safari - owns and runs Leeuwenbosch with this family, on the Amakhala Game Reserve. Accommodatin consists of the Country House & Shearers Lodge, one of which is your accommodation while on this 4-day African veterinary safari.

When: 7 – 10 December 2009 

Where: Amakhala Game Reserve – approximately 40 minutes from Port Elizabeth Airport

Amakhala Game Reserve began in 1999 as a joint conservation venture and today has six independently owned lodges. All are owner managed by the descendants of the original families who arrived here with the British settlers of 1820.

Brothers run other veterinary safaris working with all sorts of African animals like elephant, cheetah, antelopes, etc, take a look at their website to find out more on www.brotherssafaris.com  or email; info@brotherssafaris.com

Lion action at Tuningi on 31 August 2009

These curious young lions and lionesses came to see the goings-on as guests from Tuningi Safari Lodge enjoyed their sundowner game drive drinks & snacks in the Madikwe Game Reserve. Madikwe Collection game rangers and guests watched from a safe distance as the lions investigated the contents of the cooler boxes.

“Evening game drives include a short stop for bushveld snacks and sundowner drinks, allowing guests to stretch their legs and, in this case, get close and personal with the ‘locals’.” - commented Grant Marcus, Senior game ranger and photographer of these pictures.

I had a great time at Tuningi, while I was writing the Exclusives Safari Lodges of South Africa book. During that visit an elephant came to drink out of the dam just a few metres from the swimming pool.

They have an excellent kids safari programme too, and a separate area for children on safari to avoid them get too noisy for other guests.

Tuningi Safari Lodge is nice an intimate with four luxury suites and a further two family cottages with two bedrooms and adjoining lounge, kitchenette and dining room. Little Tuningi is a part of the main lodge but can be booked as stand alone accommodation for those that want the place to themselves. Little Tuningi has a double room and a family unit as well as a private pool and boma (for outdoor meals around the fire).

For rates contact: safaritart@wydahtours.com.

Leopards on the lounger; elephant at the poolside;  and a bad day for a buffalo

.. …these special safari moments occurred at Tintswalo Safari Lodge recently  http://www.safaritart.com/?p=304 :

Read the comment below to see what a recent guest said about Tintswalo.

To book this lodge email: safaritart@wydahtours.com

I was really impressed with Garden Route Game Lodge.  It is of course ’soft safari’, as are all the game reserves in the Western Cape.  It is because this populated region doesn’t have tracts of spare land the size of small European countries - like Kruger Park - in which the largest African animals can roam in complete freedom.

Garden Route Game Lodge is within sight of a major highway, yet as you drive in and see some elephants and look over domed hills to distant mountains, the memory that you turned off a major road just minutes before, fades into insignificance.

The transformation is that quick.

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I wouldn’t mind going to Heaven if it was like Singita Lebombo. I have been here once before (Lebombo, not Heaven) but this visit had a more profound effect on me. The subtle change in décor, from touches of lime green and grey amongst a sea of white, to a palate of ripening corn through straw to old oak, sang to my soul. What can I say? There are things that can dramatically influence the way you feel and Singita Lebombo cosseted me in waves of harmony and tranquillity.

In a previously pubished review, I said that Singita Lebombo is like existing inside a magazine photo shoot. It’s cool contemporary design would not look out of place if were situated by palm-lined beach or in a sun-drenched city, but here it is in the heart of the African bush looking perfectly comfortable.

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Singita Ebony Lodge is the well loved original lodge of Singita’s small and exclusive stable of safari lodges in South Africa, with other, more exclusive safari vacation properties recently acquired in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Ebony Lodge retains the nostalgia of its beginnings by keeping the same look and feel that it always had. It’s had regular refurbishments but never a complete makeover.  The décor is hard to describe and has strong colonial elements from well waxed dark furniture, heavily varnished woods, historic prints and leather-bound volumes in darkened corners, while never feeling stuffy.

There are also aspects of a Scottish castle, with a huge brick fireplace and bright tartan fabrics. Throw in some African artefacts and a myriad of red and yellow upholstery and cushions in plaids and stripes and you are probably wondering how this eclectic mix actually works together and who would have been bold enough to create this. I think it was an act of committed inspiration when it was first created more than ten years ago. 

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You are treated at Tintswalo in the same way the owners treat their staff, like family. It’s like being a guest at a luxury villa of an old family acquaintance, except that it is deep in the African bush.

I woke up in a glow, remembering yesterday as if it were a special birthday. Without trying very hard, we saw Africa’s Big 5 animals in just two game drives, even though an encounter with eleven lions was not expected. Nobody had ever seen this pride before - they had come up from the south, killed a buffalo and gorged until their stomachs looked like they would burst (especially the young males who snatch as much meat as they can before the older females snarl them into submission and send them packing). The Tintswalo rangers and trackers are hoping this pride will settle here as it’ll make their life a lot easier when there are forty-four paw prints to track to the source.

 My tracker and ranger team at Tintswalo Safari Lodge of Alfie and Omega (where do they get these names?), swear that with this many lions in the Manyaleti Game Reserve of 23,000 hectares, not a single day will go by without them finding the lions.

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The 18-room Mfuwe Lodge, which overlooks two lagoons that are abundant with wildlife, has a large reception area particularly suited to wandering elephants. They see no reason why they shouldn’t walk straight through, eat their fill and walk out again.  They can be seen approaching, so guests and staff move out of the way behind railings and stay still wile the herd troops through. Sometimes the elephants stop and investigate the people or sniff things on the desk,  but have never threatened anyone. After all lunch is waiting!

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My first introduction to Makanyane Safari Lodge was a face to face meeting with an elephant at the door of my cottage. “I’ll just go and shoo him away, said the lodge manager, Garth Kew. So he walked towards said elephant and shouted “Shoo!”  Elephant ignored him, so Garth ran towards him waving his arms shouting “Stop eating my trees.”

Ele got a fright and like a dog caught being naughty, tucked his tail between his squeezed-tight buttocks and took off at high speed down the path, straight towards me!

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