Our Story
Kuzuko was founded in 2001 with two main goals in mind – as an ambitious conservation project that forms an integral part of the broader Addo Conservation Area, and an ambitious social project with the aim of creating jobs and offering training in an area of high unemployment and limited opportunities.
As in so many places around the world, the lives of communities in the Eastern Cape are intertwined with the land. In the 1800’s, the mohair industry in the Eastern Cape boomed with the province being the world’s leading producer of this sought after fibre. Decades of overstocking saw much of the land in the region degraded making farming more challenging and the introduction of synthetic fibres at lower prices was a further blow to the industry.
In the last twenty years conservation and ecotourism has emerged as a new hope in the region – a win win situation that provides space for nature and creates jobs for local communities which Kuzuko is very proud to be a part of.
TRAVEL WITH PURPOSE
Your stay makes a difference helping to create jobs, support conservation and support the work of the Kuzuko Foundation.
Here at Kuzuko, we were rewilding before we had even heard of rewilding!
OUR CONSERVATION VISION
In 2001 we bought up 22 farms to combine into a huge 35,000-acre reserve where elephants, buffalos and lions could once again roam after being absent for more than 150 years.
We have numerous conservation projects taking place, including rewilding and breeding of cheetah to contribute to the metapopulation, we are home to an important population of the endangered Cape Mountain zebra, and we have the largest spekboom reforestation project to date at Kuzuko with 26 million cuttings planted over 12,000 acres that will capture an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of carbon a year.
Our reserve is one of the first to form part of a huge and exciting landscape level vision to connect Addo Elephant National Park in the West to the Great Fish Nature Reserve in the East to form one gigantic conservation area and our goal is to one day drop the fence between Kuzuko and the neighbouring Darlington section of Addo Elephant National Park. Like all great visions, this will take many years to achieve with lots of groundwork required, but we are proud to be one of the very first to start contributing to this great goal.
KUZUKO FOUNDATION
Here at Kuzuko, we were rewilding before we had even heard of rewilding!
OUR SOCIAL GOAL
We believe that sustainable businesses are the best way to create secure long-term employment and we have now been creating sustainable jobs for over twenty years.
Our other key social focus lies in environmental education and training which we do through the Kuzuko Foundation. The Kuzuko Foundation run environmental education programs for young people from the local community, organises educational visits to Kuzuko for local children to experience their natural heritage, supports two local farm schools and runs training and mentoring programs for disadvantaged young people from the local community.
KUZUKO FOUNDATION
Kuzuko is what is known as an ‘Impact Investment’ – a business with one of the main goals being to create jobs or solve a social issue.
35,000
acres
OF LAND PROTECTED FOR CONSERVATION
26
million
SPEKBOOM PLANTED
1,182
tonnes
OF CO2 CAPTURED ALREADY
1.5 mil
tonnes
OF CO2 PROJECTED TO BE CAPTURED
23
species
REINTRODUCED
14
cheetah
REWILDED
2
species
SPECIFIC CONSERVATION PROGRAMS
2
schools
SUPPORTED
470
FIXED TERM JOBS CREATED
45
PERMANENT JOBS CREATED
8
ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTED
70 km
OF GAME FENCE ERECTED
