Giving Back

William had been working in the security industry when he applied to Rhino Post Safari Lodge for a job in 2007. He was successful in his application, employed for his personality and enthusiasm rather than hospitality experience and began learning to be a sculler.

In his years in the kitchen, he developed an interest in food preparation and offered to help out whenever he had time. When he expressed an interest in cooking, we sent him to Nelspruit where he did a cooking course, and at the first opening for a cook he applied, and was successful again.

Our guests love William and his food, and we love it when he answers the kitchen phone, “Willie the best chef!”

In 2015 when the business we’d contracted to do in-room massages at Rhino Post Safari Lodge grew to the extent that they had to cancel their contract with us to focus on a bigger hotel our housekeeping supervisor, Thandi, who has been with us since 2003 showed an interest in learning to do massages.

So, we sponsored her training and she returned beaming. We of course all volunteered to be massaged to check that her skills were up to scratch for our guests, and they certainly were! Thandi’s massages, from which she earns a substantial (and well deserved) commission, have become a popular activity at the lodge with high praise from our discerning guests.

When Sorta, daughter of one of our assistant trails’ guides, started working at Rhino Post Safari Lodge in 2004 she had come from a domestic position, but her gentle nature and friendly personality won our hearts. She started as a cleaner, then became a waitress, then head waitress. Our guests loved her and everything she did, she did well and fervently.

When we discovered that she had enrolled with the wildlife college and was studying to be a guide, we were hugely impressed with her ambition. We immediately refunded her fees to her, and gave her the opportunity to go out on drives with the guides as often as possible. With her determination and enthusiasm there was no doubt she would succeed. She didn’t disappoint!

Once she was qualified, she continued to gain experience whenever she could, and by the time a guiding post came available we offered her the opportunity to apply.

It was surprisingly hard for us to imagine her as a guide, she’d always been such a good waitress that we could only picture her in that role. We were delighted to discover that she was an absolute natural, and were happy to give her the position. Later when she mentioned that she wanted to study further we were only too happy to finance her next step up on her career path. She is currently guiding for Rhino Post Safari Lodge and doing her NQF 4 in biome guiding through the Nature College.

Vusi is another of our favourite stories, though a less simple one. Vusi worked in maintenance, while doing so he expressed an interest in guiding, we paid for him to study and write his exams. Due to family issues, he was unable to write those exams and resigned to take on a taxi driving job.

We were disappointed, but understood that he had other, more pressing, concerns to deal with. Imagine our surprise when a few years later we found him driving the staff transport for our contractor.

He told us that he had eventually gone back to studying, this time paying his own way and finally realised his dream of qualifying as a guide. He was doing freelance work and looking for a permanent post. So, when a position came available, we were delighted to have this hard working and determined man of great character with a passion for nature re-join us, this time on our guiding team.