“This used to be my dad’s house, I grew up here,” says Dan Leach. “We turned it into a lodge in 2011.”
It used to be a five-bedroom house.
Now the lodge boasts six double rooms, three family rooms, and one executive room.
Covid-19
Dan took over the management of the lodge in April 2020 after being in the motor trade for 15 years.
He says: “We learned a lot from Covid-19. Business is not looking too bad at this stage, to be honest. But unfortunately there were a few guesthouses in Kuruman that closed down.”
What sustained Leach Lodge was looking at and focusing on what the quests wanted and incorporating that into their offering, such as serving dinner, which they offered before.
Recovery
Leach Lodge gets a lot of corporate guests mostly travelling from Joburg and outlying areas.
“Once the liquor licence is approved, we are looking to open a restaurant. Unfortunately though, with lockdown, we had to retrench some of our staff. Hopefully we’ll recover soon. We take it day-by-day. We look at all the opportunities,” he says.
Take it easy …
Dan adds: “Most tourists who visit Leach Lodge are on-route from Botswana to Joburg and guys travelling to Namibia.”
“There used to be a lot of tourist attraction in Kuruman, if you look at the Moffat Mission, The Caves, The Eye β¦ but the lodge is great if you want to take it easy, to relax, to come for a swim.”
Expansion plans for Leach Lodge include opening a restaurant, “There is a market for an upmarket restaurant in Kuruman. Here we can cater for all sizes of groups. We are also looking at getting more conference facilities.”
“We are looking to do more break-away events for people who want to get away. We would like to cater more for the leisure guests where families can come and sit and have a good, relaxed time in a private venue.”
Generator and boreholes
Leach Lodge runs it’s own licensed sewerage that cleans the water and uses it for irrigation.
The establishment is never affected by loadshedding as it has a generator. It also has it’s water from it’s own boreholes.
Leach Lodge is a nice quiet area to be at. It has a relaxed atmosphere. I had a really great time there. I stayed in the executive room aka the honey moon suite.
Great post Fi. Will surely have to check it out after lockdown is over.
Thank you, Faith.
Thank you Fefe…it looks like the kind of place I need for my break after exams.
You will love it, Ref.