Greetings from the Royal Jozini Estate,
Two seasons have passed since my last communication to you all, and during this time as the setting suns path has swept across our Western horizon so the bush has been transformed from a quilted mixture of tanned colours into a seething jungle of green hues.
Any visible evidence of fires from the dry season has been replaced by fresh vegetation giving birth to swarms of new insect life.
The game relocated to the East Shore reserve in June last year is faring very well with our populations of zebra, warthog, wildebeest and even giraffe growing at a rapid rate. Crèches of wildebeest are now in residence off East shore road, many new warthog piglets dart away from the passing vehicles and our baby giraffe is getting visibly more confident to game viewers. One of our investors, Roger Mcleod sighted a leopard on Mountain Road North in December whilst planning the layout of his lodge – all positive signs.
From land to water – the annual dam release took place last year in November with an unprecedented amount of water being hurled down the old river course towards Maputo. Our dam levels dropped considerably and up till now there has not been much change due to some surprisingly bad summer rainfall in the catchment areas. In the past weeks we have experienced a slight surge in water levels although we still need some large volumes to bring the levels back to their previous glory. The upside of the low water levels has been an increase in the size the flood plains and huge tracts of green open land are abundant with aquatic bird life on the Western shores. Pools on the Northern tip of the dam also became isolated with the drop in water levels and as the remaining fish wait for the sun to evaporate their last remaining habitat, so the scavengers have arrived in the form of marabou storks and herons to feast on this easy meal.
Our spring tiger fishing festival held in September last year was highly enjoyable, there were no monsters but the numbers were positive and a good few of those pulled out were tipping the 3kg scale. This competition definitely has the potential to grow into an event worth attending should fighting the elusive striped water dog be up your street. Plans are already underway to host a larger event this coming Spring with the focus being on our investors attending. We are sure to entice some reasonable sponsorship making the prizewinning purse that much more attractive and a range of accommodation options are being explored for offer to you all. We will keep you informed of actual dates in due course.
Construction on the estate during 2011 has been progressively steady and a number of completed lodges offer accommodation for those who still intend to build. To view these options please visit
www.royalaccommodation.co.za and click on the relevant link. Joan Ridl who handles bookings is contactable on +27 72 038 7661 and lives on site should you be passing by and wish to view the accommodation options for yourself. Please note that investors do qualify for discounts on the rates listed on the site.
We also have a more affordable rustic accommodation option in the form of the iconic Brown’s Camp situated on the Western shores of the reserve. This is a self catering tented camp sleeping 8 and is made up of 4 sleeper tents (2 single beds in each) and a kitchen tent all erected on wooden decks. It is fully serviced with a gas cooker, freezer, stocked kitchen, outdoor toilet / shower (with hot water) and viewing deck. Brown’s camp rates for 2012 are as follows:
Sun – Thu: R165.00 p.p.p.n (minimum charge of R825.00 per night)
Fri – Sat: R200.00 p.p.p.n (minimum charge of R2400.00 for Fri/Sat booking)
For those of you wishing to build your dream lodge this year, I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you of the nearly completed show house. Contact Lance Ridl on +27 82 265 8699 for more information. Should you wish to pursue the tented camp options recently approved then please contact Darell Worthington from Ewald Plekker Architects on +27 82 896 7161 or email darell@royaljozinilodges.co.za, here are some visuals of these elegant, practical and affordable options.
Our full time resident’s population has grown considerably and mixed with visiting lodge owners especially during the holidays, a steady flow of human traffic has been coming in and out of Royal Jozini. This has resulted in a ever growing range of services being offered by the estate which include gas, water and diesel supply as well as housekeeping and gardening services all independently funded by the users with deposits being payable on subscription to these services.
A complaint which has cropped up recently has been the lack of activities available on the estate and I tend to agree, so over the coming months it is the intention of the estate to create various types of nature trails and mountain bike tracks mainly in the East shore reserve, we have a variety of terrain to traverse so each trail should be unique from the other. In addition, we plan to invite some professional ornithologists, entomologists and other bush savvy experts on various weekends to take those interested on a trail exploration into their world. Once confirmed, you will be informed accordingly. Other than that, the creation of a volleyball next to the water’s edge is still under discussion, given our resident crocodile population this might increase our public liability monthly payments!! The estate itself is in good shape and despite legal issues between the developer and the Swaziland government, the LOA is upholding the estate to big 5 standards and complying with the requirements of the sub leases, furthermore despite the outstanding infrastructure it is life as normal and we remain ever confident and aware that regardless of the outcome of the developers legal dispute – investor sub leases are protected in that they would revert to the iNgwenyama should the developer default. In essence the real issue is one of a delay in completion of roads and sufficient game introduction, the estate itself is operationally ready for investors to use and build their lodges. I would like to note however that we have been busy with upgrading certain roads located in RJB6 and will continue to do so during the course of this year. Albeit for a couple of speed humps not designed for the urban vehicle (which have been rectified), there has been a remarkable difference made on sections of Mountain Road South and East Shore Rd.
Regardless of the legal issue, levies are the necessary evil and are a critical component of maintaining the estate in accordance with the requirements of the leases. Any breach by the sub leases can jeopardize investor rights, so we advise all investors to pay levies to protect their interests. We are pleased to advise that the LOA committee has managed to keep costs at current levels due to the implementation of some cost cutting initiatives. We have a levy paying database of 128 members, the majority of investors are keeping their payments up to date, so a big thank you! Unfortunately, legal action for the recovery of outstanding levies has commenced against those defaulting. If you are one of these, please come back on board before we are forced to go any further!
For more up to date information on the day to day occurrences please visit our Royal Jozini Big 6 Facebook group which does manage to keep itself fairly current.
That seems to be it for now except that should any investors be planning a trip to visit the estate, please feel free to contact me any time so I can answer any enquiries you may have and ensure your visit is worthwhile, my contact details are listed below:
Let me leave you with some other visuals taken during the course of the year.
I look forward to seeing you in this magical location soon.
