Sept 2011

Pondoro once again attended the prestigious World Luxury Hotel Awards held on the 16th of September in Zagreb, Croatia.

The World Luxury Hotel Awards are accepted as the pinnacle of achievement for luxury hotels worldwide. I am very proud and absolutely elated to announce that Pondoro won the award as Best Luxury Lodge in South Africa.

I want to extend my sincerest thanks to all the travel agents, tour operators and valued guests that took the time to vote for us. This vote of confidence in Pondoro acts as a huge inspiration for each and every staff member and cement in us our commitment for service excellence and innovation by showing that we are on the right path.

By seeing the fruit of their labour culminating in something tangible like this prestigious award cannot be underestimated and the sense of pride and achievement at the lodge must be experienced to be fully understood. Thank you!!!

Pondoro was also awarded the Diners Club Platinum Award - Wine list of the year for 2011! This award is regarded as the benchmark for wines in the restaurant and hospitality industry in South Africa.

Your wine list forms an integral part of the dining experience and a good wine list could be seen as indicative of the quality of the cuisine offered. Lize, the lodge manager and executive chef, is currently busy qualifying as Sommelier which would make Pondoro one of the very few lodges in South Africa with an in-house Sommelier.

Ranger’s report September 2011

September is traditionally our driest month where dust becomes our friend and rain a distant memory. The bush stare back at you with hollowed eyes from a pale grey face, wrinkled and dry, awaiting relief from the persisting wind and smothering heat.

It is not all doom and gloom, however, as every now and then it will throw at you a pearl like a den with 2 beautiful, small hyenas cubs which entertained us throughout the month. The lack of leaves and short grass also makes game viewing easier and sightings have been exceptional.

Lions were seen nearly every day ( 24 times ) and they were twice seen feeding, once on a kudu and once on a warthog. The leopard sightings were awesome as well. Most leopard sightings were of the 2 males called Chavaluthu and Watsakile Madoda and they are firm favourites with all the rangers and trackers at the lodge.

The 2 leopard cubs of Manana are spending more time on their own and we are looking forward to many wonderful hours spent in their presence. There are quite a few breeding herds of elephants with very young calves around at the moment providing some lighthearted entertainment for their mothers and eager guests as well. Rhinos and buffaloes were seen almost every day. There are a big breeding herd of about 250 buffaloes around making guests happy and the lions ecstatic.

Fantastic news for our reserve is the imminent release of 20 highly endangered black rhinos on the 27th of October which will be done in conjunction with WWF. Our reserve will now have the biggest population of black rhinos of all the private reserves open to Kruger Park making us one of less than a handful of places in Africa where you will stand a good chance of seeing black rhinos.