South Africa Safari.info - Kwazulu Natal Private Reserve Safari

PHINDA PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

This private game reserve was formed about 10 years ago along the borders of Greater St Lucia Wetland Park - one of Africa's most ecologically diverse regions. Farmland was restored back to its natural habitats and stocked with big game animals.

Seven different eco systems exist on the reserve including forest and coastal, and its variety renders it perfect for an escape of luxury and adventure. Conservation Corporation Africa has built four private lodges in the reserve, each in its own environment with differing qualities. This venture not only supports animals but also improves employment, education and health facilities in the local communities.

You can catch a glimpse of Zulu life, past and present by visiting a traditional cultural village aligned to the Phinda reserve.

ANIMALS & ACTIVITIES

In addition to vehicle game viewing where leopards are often seen?- is this true? , you can also go rhino tracking on foot in this reserve. There is also the opportunity to watch turtles laying their eggs on a remote beach and to dive amongst them on the coral reefs. Hippos inhabit the ancient waterways and canoeing past them can be quite a thrill. Even horse riding is an option here.

SEASONS

Rainy Season: This is a sub-tropical area which becomes hot and humid in the rainy summer months of October to March.
Dry Season: The dry season lasts over winter from April to September and the temperatures are very pleasant with warm days and cool nights.

PHINDA GAME RESERVE SPECIALITIES
· Rhino tracking on foot
· Canoeing past hippos
· Watching turtles lay their eggs
· Horse riding in game areas
· Snorkelling or diving on coral reefs
· Residing in one of four luxury lodges

FACTS
This is a malarial area.
This is a private reserve for guests at one of the four CCAfrica lodges.

HLUHLUWE UMFOLOZI NATIONAL PARK

This is a large and incredibly scenic park with rippling hills covered in low acacia bush, and lofty viewpoints giving a bird's eye view of who's doing what where. The north of the park is more rugged and mountainous with forests and grasslands, while the south and west is more undulating with open savannah. Hluhluwe is a difficult word to pronounce but something sounding like "Shoushlooee" is close enough.

The park contains an immense diversity of fauna and flora and is particularly famous for its conservation of black and white rhino. It contains hundreds of endangered black rhino and the largest population of white rhino in the world.

Apart from game-viewing drives, there are two self-guided auto trails, for those wishing to self drive themselves around the park. There are a number of picnic sites and several self-guided walks providing magnificent views. Two daily walks in the company of a field ranger can be booked through the camp office and extended several day hikes are undertaken in the southern Umfolozi part of the park.

ANIMALS & BIRDS

Hluhluwe Umfolozi is home to 1,600 white rhino and 370 black rhino - an impressive number which means you are very likely to see one or both species. It also contains the rest of the Big Five; buffalo, elephant, lion and leopard, as well as many other species including blue wildebeest, zebra, giraffe waterbuck, nyala, kudu, bushbuck, warthog, cheetah, hyena and jackal plus about 24,000 impala. You may have some close encounters with elephants as they often cross or block the road right in front of your vehicle.

In excess of 300 species of birds have been recorded.

SEASONS

Rainy Season: This is a hot and humid sub-tropical area and most rain falls during the months of September to April. Annual rainfall is 29-39 inches (750-1,000mm).
Dry Season: The dry season lasts over winter from May to August and the temperatures are very pleasant with warm days and cool nights.

HLUHLUWE AND UMFOLOZI GAME RESERVE SPECIALITIES
· Black and white rhinos
· Rippling scenery with splendid viewpoints
· Self drive, self walk or guided walks
· 'Big Five' animals
· Close encounters with elephants

FACTS
This is a malarial area
There is no off-road or night driving
The park covers some 211,000 acres (96,000 ha)

NDUMO GAME RESERVE & TEMBE ELEPHANT PARK

Ndumo is a small but spectacular park and something of a well kept secret. Proclaimed back in the 1920's, it is one of South Africa's oldest reserves and considered to be one of the finest in KwaZulu Natal. Tembe Elephant Park is just adjacent.

These parks are in a hot humid subtropical region just south of the Mozambique border and close to Swaziland. Ndumo is full of riverine floodplains fed by the Pongola and Usutu Rivers, and looks similar in places to Botswana's Okavango Delta. Large, attractive water pans are lined with giant fig trees and yellow-barked fever trees.

ANIMALS & BIRDS

Unusually, both black and white rhino are found in Ndumo, plus buffalo, hippos, crocodile, giraffe and several antelope species. Its tropical climate gives rise to lush thick undergrowth, which makes some wildlife, particularly lion, leopard and hyena, hard to spot.

Conditions are perfect for attracting large numbers of birds and some people consider this to be the best bird watching in South Africa. It is the southern most range for several species and migrants also call in to boost sightings to over 400 species. You could be lucky enough to see the southern banded snake eagle, gorgeous bush shrike, Pel’s fishing owl and other rarely seen birds.

TEMBE ELEPHANT PARK
The sandvelt forest of this park next to Ndumo, contains about 100 or more elephants, brought from the Maputo Elephant Reserve during Mozambique's civil war. There are also white rhino and leopard.

SEASONS
Rainy Season: In this sub-tropical region the wet summer months from October to March are hot and humid.
Dry Season: The dry season lasts from April to September and the temperatures are very pleasant with warm to hot days and cooler nights.

NDUMO SPECIALITIES
· Both black and white rhino
· Ndumo Wilderness Camp in an area not open to the public
· Thick tropical forests
· Exceptionally good bird sightings

NDUMO SPECIALITIES
· Elephants
· Remoteness

FACTS
This is a malarial area

MKHUZE GAME RESERVE

Mkhuze (also spelt Mkuze), is a place of great beauty and makes up the northwestern spur of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park - a recently declared World Heritage Site.

It is a land of great contrasts with an interesting range of habitats. There are low lying hollows adjacent to ancient red sand dunes ridges and broad stretches of gently rolling acacia savannah. The slopes of the Lebombo mountains to the west, contrast with low-lying swamps, riverine forests including attractive stretches of fig trees, and a variety of woodlands. In the heart of the reserve is a rare sand forest, noted for its spreading, dark-leafed sherbert trees and red heart trees, which release pink-winged seeds in the autumn.

Two shallow water pans, Inhlonhlela and Insumo lie in the north and east, and are lined with water lilies in summer attract hippos, crocodiles and considerable bird life.

The reserve is open to the public for self drive safaris, and the trail through one of Africa's last remaining unspoiled fig tree forests is very popular. There are three observation platforms in the reserve overlooking pans and waterholes where animals come to drink
A sacred burial site of chiefs of the Kwajobe clan is located in this reserve and only clan members may go there and commune with their ancestors. For a glimpse into the traditional northern Zulu lifestyle and the crafts of the KwaJobe community, a cultural village has been opened nearby.

ANIMALS & BIRDS

Animals to be found in the reserve include giraffe, elephant, black and white rhinoceros, leopard, nyala, warthog, blue wildebeest, impala, kudu, eland and smaller antelope. Other rarely seen species occurring here are cheetah, hyena and little suni dwarf-antelope..
More than 420 bird species are on record, including many migrants and waterbirds including two species of pelicans.

SEASONS

Rainy Season: The temperate climate is very pleasant but a hot and humid summer commences in October with thunderstorms, which come to an end around March. The summer rains bring the park to life although the thick foliage makes animals harder to view.
Dry Season: The dry winter months from April to September are very pleasant with warm days and cool nights. The best game viewing is normally considered to be in winter as the vegetation becomes sparse and water is restricted to rivers and waterholes.

MKHUZE GAME RESERVE SPECIALITIES
· Exceptional birdlife
· Scenic beauty
· Good animal watching
· Zulu village
· Hippos and crocodiles

FACTS

Mkhuze is a 99,000 acres (40,000 hectare) reserve in northern Zululand
It was proclaimed as a protected area in 1912.
This is a malarial area.
This is a public reserve containing several lodges.
Off road driving is not permitted.

ROCKTAIL BAY

This World Heritage Site combines pristine forests with wetlands and marine ecology. The string of lakes, marshes, coral reefs and secluded beaches, make this north-eastern corner of South Africa a sub-tropical paradise.

The warm sea attracts a huge diversity of marine life including leatherback and loggerhead turtles that lay their eggs in the soft sand during summer. Ragged-tooth sharks congregate off rocky reefs and bottlenose dolphins leap joyously in the wave break. Whale sharks are known to investigate boats and humpback whales migrate here in winter.

A sophisticated conservation model has been successfully implemented in Rocktail Bay, whereby a partnership between conservation authorities, local communities and Wilderness Safaris is successfully helping to preserve the area and create jobs.

MAPUTALAND COASTAL FOREST RESERVE

KwaZulu Natal is extremely proactive in preserving its exceptional natural heritage and the Maputaland Coastal Forest Reserve of the north-east corner of South Africa, is a World Heritage Site.

The reserve stretches all the way from the Mozambique border in the north to Sodwana Bay in the south. This sub-tropical paradise encompasses pristine forests and wetlands with strings of lakes and marshes, and marine ecologies including deserted beaches and coral reefs.

Incorporated in the Maputaland Coastal Forest Reserve are a number of small protected areas:

Lake Sibaya Nature Reserve contains the largest freshwater crystal clear lake in South Africa and is separated from the coast by impressive sand dunes rising to 536 feet (165metres). The lake contains some crocs and hippos, and there are boats (with skipper) for hire for fishing trips. The pristine coastline of this reserve stretches for 62 miles (100km).

Kosi Bay Nature Reserve is a coastal reserve with a string of four lakes and a wide variety of terrain and unique eco systems in the fig tree and palm forests, mangrove swamps, freshwater lakes, sand dunes, pristine beaches and coral reefs. It is home to the Tonga people who use ingenious fish traps made from reeds, to make their daily catch in the tidal lagoon.

The lakes contain crocs and hippos, while antelopes inhabit the dry inland parts of the reserve. The mouth of the lake system is considered to provide some of the best snorkelling in South Africa. But the areas is most famous for its leatherback turtles, that lay their eggs in the soft beach sand from the end of October through to January. Turtle viewing is allowed with wildlife rangers.

Rocktail Bay is a (40km) stretch of unspoilt, undeveloped, pristine coastline where a sophisticated conservation model has been successfully implemented, between conservation authorities, local communities and Wilderness Safaris tour operator. A small number of visitors stay at Rocktail Bay Lodge and can experience nature walks into the coastal forest, watching turtles laying their eggs, boat trips out to sea, scuba diving and snorkelling. This eco-friendly tourism project is successfully helping to preserve the area and create jobs.

The warm sea of this coastline attracts a great diversity of marine life including loggerhead and leatherback turtles, ragged-tooth sharks and enormous whale sharks, bottlenose dolphins and humpback whales, plus a myriad of colourful reef fish and other sea creatures.

SEASONS

Rainy Season: the climate is hot and humid in the rainy summer months of October to March.
Dry Season: The dry season lasts over winter from April to September and the temperatures are very pleasant with warm days and cool nights.

MAPUTALAND MARINE RESERVE SPECIALITIES
· Egg laying turtles
· Pristine deserted coastline
· Exceptional snorkelling and diving
· Fishing on Lake Sibaya
· Whales, dolphins and sharks

FACTS
This is a malarial area