A Walk Down Safari Lodge Memory Lane...

Today marks Zululand Safari Lodge’s 43th birthday! It opened its doors for business on 15 October 1970 for the first time, changing the future of Ubizane Reserve forever. In co-operation with Cape Hotels Group, Safari Lodge was established and realized Norman Deane’s dream for the beautiful reserve to become a tourist destination.

Back in those days, Safari Lodge had a very different look and feel to it.  As the only lodge on the reserve, it had a dining room, cocktail bar and 42 double rooms.  Safari Lodge also had two boma’s – one for dining and one for Zulu dancing.  Today we still have the one boma which we use as a dining venue. The dining room and bar has been moved to Tree Lodge as the main restaurant. 

Ownership has shifted tremendously throughout the years moving from private ownership to leisure companies such as Sun International and the Three Cities Group, and then back to private ownership again.  With each owner bringing their unique atmosphere to Ubizane, Safari Lodge soon became a popular tourist destination. 

 The Three Cities Group owned Ubizane until 2009 with the group consisting of the main investors from three different cities; Mark Taylor, Mike Harrison, Robert Maingard and Alan Burke.

In 2009, one of the Three Cities investors, Mr. Alan Burke, saw the potential of Ubizane Wildlife Reserve. Ubizane was in desperate need at that stage for renovation and a make-over.  Mr. Burke bought out all the shares for Ubizane Wildlife Reserve in December 2009 and renovations began in 2010. 

Now, three years later, Safari Lodge (and the whole of Ubizane) is still under Mr. Burke’s ownership and has been showing remarkable progress as rooms have been beautifully refurbished and a team works hard every day to keep the original dream of Norman Deane alive. 

If you have any photographs of Safari Lodge throughout the years, send them to social@ubizane.co.za and we’ll post it into our “memory lane” album on Facebook.

New Home for the Barn Owls

Our beautiful Barn Owls that we have hand raised have finally found a new home! We built an aviary especially for them and a new project we have decided to tackle.  Ubizane is proudly entering the world of bird rehabilitation and we invite the public to bring any birds of prey that needs rehabilitation to our brand new aviary! Email: social@ubizane.co.za for more information about this exciting new project!

 We went from an open patch of grass with only a few poles to a full aviary in only a couple of weeks time.

The Release over the weekend:

Feel free to come visit our two Barn Owls and get to know these birds of prey better! 

Birds of a feather...

For those of you who followed our Barn Owls story, you might be dying to hear how they are doing.  Our little chicks are all grown-up and starting to gain the birds of prey instinct that we so diligently have tried to expose them to.  

We see this when they receive food.  Whenever we start feeding them they start hissing and stamping their feet aggressively.  This is a sign of dominance as they would usually take the mice that they catch and beat them on the ground with their claws until they die.  This is a very gruesome way of killing but we must remember that these are wild birds of prey which can become just as violently aggressive as a predator such as a lion.  They also swing their heads from side to side to try and intimidate those around.  It is a very interesting process to watch as they brutally attack their food without mercy.  And yet they do it so gracefully and beautiful that it’s hard to look away. 

They have become more beautiful by the day and now look like fully grown adult Barn Owls.  The only difference is that they are a little smaller in size than a fully grown owl.

 They have much fuller rounder faces now with that perfect heart shape

All their down has gone, now it’s only the beautiful brown, grey and white soft feathers that remain.

On your next visit to Ubizane, feel free to ask us about the progress of the owls!

Join our Migration

Thursday is a big day for us at Ubizane.  For the past few months the team has been working hard to redesign and revamp our old website.  We decided 2013 is the year for change at Ubizane and we have completely redone our website.  We have upgraded our website to a look that represents Ubizane better so you can be sure that Ubizane is the holiday destination for you and your family!

The big launch is on Thursday, the 6^th of June and with it will be a brand new competition.  The first 10 people to register for the newsletter & to tell us where to find the phrase “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin” by William Shakespeare, on the new site will receive a 25% discount on their next stay at Ubizane! 

You can enter by emailing social@ubizane.co.za with your answer and your name & surname.
Competition closes as soon as 10 persons have entered complying with the rules!

The countdown to 6 June 2013 has begun, only 2 more days! Join our migration!

Silk of Gold

If you visit Ubizane you will realise that there are many interesting different creatures crawling and flying around in the lush bush.  One of our treasured critters is the beautiful Golden Orb Spiders.  Across the reserve you will notice big golden spider webs in the bush with big colourful spiders hanging from them.  Even the arachnophobias could not ignore the interesting features of this spider. 

The beautiful big golden webs are usually spun across a large area to entrap insects such as moths, butterflies, wasps and bees.  The silk created by the Golden Orb spider is so strong and unique that scientists are currently trying to synthesize the material.  Scientists have discovered that the silk is suitable for nerve re-growth.  This is not the only uses we humans have for the silk! Some fishermen use the silk, folded in a ball, to catch fish.  The silk has also been used on several occasions as a fashion garment material. 

These Golden Orb spiders, or Nephile, females can reach body sizes of 5.1cm and males only 2.1cm.  At Ubizane we certainly have a few big ones hiding in trees and in some old store rooms! 

                                A golden orb spider that was found at the top of a roof at Tree Lodge

 They usually have red and yellow stripes and patches on their abdominal side, whilst the top can be a yellow and white mix.  The colours make them easy recognizable but their claim to fame is definitively the sparkling golden orb that they weave. 

The spiders are not harmful to humans so don’t worry about these peaceful critters hanging around! On your next trip to Ubizane, look out for these beautiful big Golden Orb spiders! 

Barn Owl Update

Our Barn Owls are growing up very fast with feathers taking the place of their fluffy coats. It is an amazing transformation that people rarely get the chance to see.  We have been watching how these chicks become more and more self-efficient and shape into big Barn Owl adults. We are used to these owls species here at Ubizane as they regularly fly by during the night in between the Fever Trees.  They love making nests in these tall enchanting Fever Trees as well as in the thatch roofs of Tree Lodge.  Barn Owls have been the night companions of Tree Lodge staff members for a very long time and so it seems fitting that we rescued these little ones to bring them back to strength.  This morning we took some photo’s during our feeding session. 

The smallest one of the three still has a lot of feathers to grow but he’s getting there slowly.

The middle sized one looks odd with only a few fluffy patches on his head.

 Meet our oldest Barn Owl.  He is changing into an adult very fast with beautiful feathers almost covering his whole body now.

Keep checking our blog for the latest updates on the transformation of our beautiful Barn Owl chicks!

A Magical African Wedding:

Ubizane was lucky enough to host yet another magical African wedding!

A big CONGRATULATION goes out to Agata and James, who tied the knot on Ubizane’s breathtaking bush deck.   

Admittedly, Mother Nature had everyone’s nerves on edge when the heavens decided to open up and provide Agata and James with an abundance of good luck.  Fortunately enough, the rain subsided and a romantic ceremony was enjoyed by all! 

Shortly after having photos taken out in the African bush, the happy couple returned to Tree Lodge where a delectable buffet dinner was served in the boma.  

After the celebrations the newlyweds retreated to their honeymoon suite, which the Ubizane staff had romantically decorated for them. Upon arrival the couple was greeted by an ‘old school’ “Just Married” sign with dangling tins which hung across the entrance of their staircase leading into their room. 

Ubizane welcomes back the President of the East Coast:

After receiving the prestigious title of “President of the East Coast”, Loryn Holmes enjoyed a relaxing weekend away here at Ubizane Wildlife Reserve. 

 A morning Hluhluwe Game drive, Afternoon High Tea , Afternoon Ubizane Game Drive and an educational trip to Emdoneni I’m sure it was a  welcome treat  from the normal day to day hustle and bustle of the city.   

Ubizane Wildlife Reserve was truly honored to host The President of the East Coast, and we Hope that Loryn returns in the not so distant future!