Nibela Lake Lodge & Sobhengu Newsletter June 2015

We have accomplished so much during the past 6 months. It has been a very busy

and productive year so far. Firstly we started with the internal upgrades in the

Nibela & Sobhengu units. We are aiming to achieve a 4 Star Tourism Grading in July

of this year for Nibela. Sobhengu unfortunately can’t get graded yet, but that will

change soon. Both lodges are still a Silver Crown with RCI and rated 4 Star in the

Dream Hotels & Resorts catalogue.

We have revamped all the bathrooms at both lodges to have a more modern look and

feel. Blinds have been installed in the bathrooms

and dressing areas. The units have been painted

and floors varnished inside. At Nibela all the beds

have been upgraded to extra length. All the

bedrooms have queen size extra length and twin

rooms have ¾ extra length. Our honeymoon suite

has a king size extra length.

At Sobhengu the beds were also replaced with standard queen and ¾ size beds.

Headboards were installed and curtains were replaced, as well as all the mozzie nets,

linen, towels and soft accessories. The bedside lamps and bedroom lights have all

been replaced and the ceiling fans now work with remote controls. Both lodges are

really stylish and very comfortable with all the new features.

The kitchens at Sobhengu had a complete revamp, with

modern features and gas stove tops. This works great for

all those load shedding. Luckily we have a generator, so our

guests don’t get affected by that at inconvenient times.

At Sobhengu we also replaced all the furniture in the

bedrooms with modern leather couches, coffee and side

tables.

Sarel is still in the process of replacing the hand railings

along the wooden walk-ways. This should be done by end

July.

In the main lodge we replaced all

the pictures with photographs of

Sarel’s bird sightings. It really fits in

nicely with the overall feel and

decor of the lodge and gets all the

bird lovers very excited.

The wrap around deck

around the main lodge

was expanded and we

now have a very relaxed area for guests to enjoy our famous cocktails

while looking out over the lake and kiddies play area. We added a

sandpit, slide and swings.

We host boma night every Tuesday and Saturday night with a traditional braai and

Zulu dancing on request. Our kitchen and waiter staff also sings to guests sometimes.

The quad bike trips is still a great adventurous activity and the guided walks with

Lucky is still operational.

We haven’t had any rains in October 2014 and nothing since. It has been a dry year

in the forest. The water holes for the animals gets filled manually every second day

and we are on a rescue the Grunters mission.

With almost no rain in a year, the level of the lake has dropped drastically and we

had to stop the scenic boat and fishing trips. We can’t wait for the water to come

back, so we can see some hippo and crocs again. The pelicans are having a daily

feast on the banks of the lake, as the water level

gets lower the mullets struggle to swim and get

caught by the variety of bird species, especially

the pelicans. When the wind blows the little

Grunters that are as big as a speck of dust, get

stuck in the mud. We have caught about a 100

by hand and are now feeding them in our

fishing tank up at reception. It is amazing to

see them grow. Once they are big enough and

the water is deep enough we will be able to

release them back to their natural habitat.

We still get our water trucked in daily from

surrounding towns, it’s an ongoing battle. Sarel

is nearly finished installing the borehole and we will hopefully be able to use that

water for everything except drinking purpose, as it is a little brackish.

We had a battle with ants for about a 3 month period, trying everything possible to

stop the infestation we had, but now finally we can say, we won, they are gone and so

is our budget, haha.

We also put out small containers with water daily for the birds and butterflies. It is

the driest year since 2007 when we started working here.

We can now also make bookings at the lodge, for members and direct bookings from

the public. You can conveniently contact us direct on 035 562 9005 or email

melani.vdw@dreamresorts.co.za

We run midweek special and regularly post this on our website and face book page,

Nibela Lake Lodge & Sobhengu Lodge.

In November 2014 we gave 12 students tertiary bursaries for further studies in the

Hospitality field. The students are doing very well and can look forward to their

future. We will be doing this every year. The chief of our tribal area also got a new

bakkie and can now start fulfilling his duties as chief. We were able to assist the chief

with these things which he financed from the rental money for the Nibela Land. Our

relationship with the community is very good and we work hard to help them were

ever we can.

The road coming to the lodge gets

maintained every 4 months. It is a

standing arrangement we have with

the chief. The water trucks wear out

the road from time to time leaving

small sandy pot holes in the road, but

nothing to really worry about.

We are planning a birding weekend

and butterfly weekend during the

summer months, maybe around end

October or November.

We received an award from Travel

Ground, being one of the 100 lodges

to visit. As well as an award from

Dream Hotels & Resorts as Resort

Managers of the year 2014.

Looking forward to see you at the lodge.

Regards

Sarel & Melani van der Westhuizen

Nibela Lake Lodge & Sobhengu Lodge General Managers