game reserves

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Escaping big cats

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUCsUkXOapA&w=500&h=400]The big cats from the Eastern Cape and surrounding areas just don't want to be contained.  First a couple of cheetahs suddenly appeared in Addo from who knows where, Then a lion escaped from the Karoo National Park and roamed the surrounding countryside for a couple of weeks before being captured.  Well, things happen in threes.  Nomad, one of the Addo males, has answered the call from a female lion in neighboring Schotia Safaris Private Game Reserve and decided to…

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21/08/2015
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Calling for #AnimalRightsInTourism

Today the documentary Blood Lions gets release and to coincide with that, travel bloggers from all over South Africa decided to put their voices together to call for #AnimalRightsInTourism.  Blood Lions put the focus on the canned hunting industry which has direct links with places offering lion cub interaction.  Does people who get to play with lion cubs realise where that cute little cub goes when he is all grown up?  Probably into a small fenced enclosure and right into the sight…

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22/07/2015
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Shamwari Game Reserve promotional video

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZi08gPyuQ8&w=500&h=400]The Shamwari Private Game Reserve is world famous and everybody knows about it, but have you ever been there?  I used to go there quite often with guests when I was still a tourist guide and they still did day visits.  Perhaps by posting this and asking very nicely somebody will pop me an invite... *wink*  Anyhow, Shamwari is a stunning place and you can at least get a taste of it in this promotional video I picked up on YouTube.

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13/02/2015
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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…

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10/02/2015
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Addo Palace Ndebele Private Reserve pictorial

Just before peak season hit us I was on a social media workshop road trip in the Karoo and Addo areas.  The night before the workshop in Addo I got to stay at Addo Palace in the Ndebele Private Reserve bordering the Addo Elephant National Park.  It's always nice to stay and experience somewhere new and this was no different. Ndebele Private Resevre is a 2500 acre game farm in the foothills of the Zuurberg Mountains and about 30 minutes…

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05/01/2015
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Goodbye 2014 – watch out 2015, here I come

Is it just me or did 2014 fly past at the speed of light. A year ago I had no idea what this year had in store for me and now, 12 months later I look back at a year of many highs but it also a couple of real lows, specially at the end.  There is always more one would like to have been able to do, but 2014 has laid the foundation for 2015 to be an even more…

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01/01/2015
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Kuzuko view

The Addo Elephant National Park is literally on Port Elizabeth's doorstep and is South Africa's third largest national park.  Strange how some people still think its just about elephants.  These days the park stretch all the way from the coast through the main game viewing area and over the Zuurberg into the Karoo.  One of the private concession lodges in the park is Kuzuko Lodge.  Kuzuko is situated just over the mountain and has a very different fauna and flora…

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17/12/2014
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A Pale Chanting Goshawk in Addo

I have never been a big bird expert.  When I started working as a tourist guide I went to a lot of effort to increase my birding knowledge, but a LBJ (little brown job) and an Overtheroadian were still the most common answers I gave when something flashed across the road as we drove along somewhere.  Addo Elephant National Park has a bird checklist of over 400 species with about 200 occurring within the main game area. In all the years that I…

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16/12/2014