My Kuzuko cheetah experience

Kuzuko Lodge in the Greater Addo Elephant National Park is one of my favorite lodges to visit.  Because its on the Karoo side of the Zuurberg mountains the animal sightings may be slightly less than on the coastal side, but I have had some magnificent encounters and combined with their lodge and service it has been a recommendable experience every time.  A Karoo Heartland Marketing Association meeting brought me back to Kuzuku and during my stay I got to do one of their activities I haven’t been able to do before, their cheetah experience.

As our luck would have it we found the two cheetahs right next to the fence on a kill so we quickly hopped off the vehicle and approached on foot to a safe distance.  Well, safe is perhaps not the right word.  Let’s rather say a comfortable distance for the cheetah.  Kuzuko’s cheetah aren’t tame but they have learnt to tolerate the presence of humans and allow visitors to get fairly close to them without entering their space.  Our ranger kept us behind him at all times and you could see he had an eye on them constantly just in case.

Seeing them this close while on foot is so much better than sitting on a game drive vehicle or looking at them through a fence.  The lifted their heads for a look at us once or twice but otherwise didn’t even bother about us.

Kuzuko may charge an additional fee for this activity which goes towards the Kuzuko Foundation to assist funding their Wildlife Rehabilitation efforts, assisting them in their endeavours to preserve Africa’s wildlife legacy.
 
Disclosure: I stayed at the reserve as guest of Karoo Heartland and Kuzuko Lodge.  I received no further remuneration and keep full editorial control over the post.

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Nat

    Fantastic sighting of a magnificent animal! Great to learn about the Kuzuko Foundation – very important work

  2. Gaelyn

    Interesting experience. I did that at Tenakwa. Cheetahs are very tolerant.

  3. mike

    Envy your experience. Perhaps one day………..

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