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DGC COA


Safari Lodge No. 8423

Consecrated 13th May 1972


Meeting at: Johannesburg - Freemasons Hall, 8 Park Lane, Parktown


Meeting Dates: 3rd Tuesday Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Inst May


Contact 082 975 1638


Lodge History

The Lodge's 24 founders were masons who had lived in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda, and who, for various reasons, had 'come south', Some had joined Woodlands Lodge No 3668 and that Lodge sponsored Safari. The founders were drawn from three constitutions, and given their different origins, and the Transvaal practice of Emulation, it seems to have been a wise decision to have an 'official' Lodge of Instruction affiliated to the Emulation Lodge of Improvement

The Lodge first met in the masonic hall in Norwood but its aim to be a dining lodge created problems, and in January 1980 it moved to Park Lane.

To the Lodge's particular credit, it has always endeavoured to include something more than ritual workings in its programmes. Thus in 1976 it organised the presentation by W Bro Brig Jackson of his Prestonian lecture for that year, 'Preston's England', and it welcomed the instructive visits to South Africa of W Bro Colin Dyer, and made him an honorary member. Beyond that, the Lodge included lectures and discussions in its programmes, whenever practicable, and has from time to time presented sections of the rarely heard 'Lectures of the Three Degrees'.

In. 1973 Safari Lodge sponsored Flame Lily Lodge No 8540, which was formed for expatriates from the former District of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and in 1976 it joined with that Lodge in forming what has proved to be a very strong and successful Royal Arch Chapter, under the Flame Lily name. The ties between the two lodges have been particularly close and in addition Safari took a strong interest in the formation, in 1982 of Universal Friendship Lodge No 9540, the Charter Master (W Bro M J Durrant, PAGDC) and several founders being members of Safari.

The Lodge's initial momentum helped its membership to reach about 60 in the early 1980s but resignations, largely caused by transfers, took their toll and the current membership is about 40, a level at which the Lodge hopes to consolidate and rebuild.

Reference: 'A Century of Brotherhood' by A A Cooper & D E G Vieler