A story of love, conservation,
and community.
Our Mission
Established in 2016, Kuzuko Foundation is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to restoring and re-wilding the land of Kuzuko Private Game Reserve whilst uplifting and empowering the surrounding communities.
A story of love, conservation and community, the foundation strives to protect the land by providing environmental education and socio-economic empowerment to the local communities and young people surrounding the reserve.
Here’s to land restored.
Here’s to new beginnings in ancient places.
Here’s to a fairer world united by a shared love for nature.
Here’s to learning to live sustainably and in balance with all that surrounds us.
Upon the opening of the Kuzuko Lodge in 2008, Archbishop Desmond Tutu described the reserve as ‘like a rose in the desert’. We love how this captures our foundation’s mission to bring abundance and hope to this region, both environmentally and socially.
Conservation in action
The Kuzuko Foundation is dedicated to restoring and conserving the natural environment of the Kuzuko Private Game Reserve, and manages the 14,500 hectares of spectacular Karoo landscape, and the many animals and wildlife that now once again call it home.
Our projects include:
The rewilding & breeding of cheetah
Cape Mountain zebra conservation
Degraded farmland rehabilitation
Spekboom reforestation
Erosion and plant control
Empowering Local Communities
Hand in hand with our conservation mission, the foundation has an intrinsically social heart.
We strive to uplift the reserve’s surrounding communities through environmental education, youth empowerment, and support of our local schools.
Our core areas of focus are:
Environmental education
Job preparedness training, work experience, and mentorship
Local remote school support and resource provision
Hopewell education centre visits
Our Story
In 2001, Kuzuko’s founder and one of the earliest pioneers of impact investment, set out to demonstrate his vision of using sustainable businesses to create meaningful social and environmental change.
The Eastern Cape was chosen as a location, as one of South Africa’s poorest regions with limited job opportunities. The area once had a thriving wool trade, supporting many families, however overgrazing and new synthetic fibres greatly reduced the industry leaving many without work.
Over six years, 22 farms were purchased, combined into a 35,000 acre reserve, named Kuzuko, meaning ‘Place of Glory’ in Xhosa. The vision was for a restored, thriving environment where elephants, buffalos and lions could once again roam after being absent for more than 150 years, and with the expressed aim of creating jobs in an area of exceptionally high unemployment. In 2016, the Kuzuko Foundation, a nonprofit organisation, was established to formalize and develop this environmental and social mission.
Our objectives are therefore simple: to restore and re-wild the land of Kuzuko Private Game Reserve to its former glory, whilst uplifting and empowering the surrounding communities.
How to
support us
Stay with at Kuzuko Lodge
Your stay at Kuzuko Lodge directly contributes to supporting the work of the Kuzuko Foundation. Come visit the Lodge to see our work firsthand, explore our amazing reserve, and contribute to the next chapter of our story.
Visit our website here: Kuzuko Lodge
Donate
However big or small, we value and are grateful for every donation made to the foundation.
If our vision resonates with you, and you would like to make a donation, please get in touch at foundation@kuzuko.com.
Our shared ‘Place of Glory’
Get in touch
foundation@kuzuko.com
Please send us an email if you would like to get in touch, or provide a donation. We would love to hear from you.