80 Getaway November 2012 www.getaway.co.za 81
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal may be relatively small, but as one of the oldest game parks in Africa, it has a
history as dramatic as its scenery and an atmosphere as wild as its animals. It’s also among the most accessible Big Five reserves in the
country, just a three-hour drive north of Durban. By Scott Ramsay.
Home of tHe
Year in the Wild HluHluwe-iMfolozi
82 Getaway November 2012 www.getaway.co.za 83
Shadows moved quickly across the land and the
blackness of night lurked on the eastern horizon.
But right then, time stood still as three white rhinos
drifted into view. The beasts emerged slowly from the
acacia woodland onto the river bank, their horns scything
the twilight air.
Not 20 metres of braided riverbed separated our campsite
from the bull, cow and calf. Moments earlier, our group of
hikers had been chatting away. Now we dared not move,
nor speak. Like the resurrection of some ancient god, the
rhinos held us in rapture.
They were unaware of us. These prehistoric creatures,
which weigh up to three tonnes, have poor eyesight, but
good hearing and smell. The breeze had carried evidence
of our presence away. Now the rhinos came closer, their
forefeet in the river, as they slurped big mouthfuls of water
into their capacious bellies. We were witnessing a primordial
ritual, something that has continued uninterrupted for longer
than homo sapiens has been on Earth. At the end of each day
for several hundred-thousand years, rhinos had come to drink
from the White Umfolozi River.
Their thirst slaked, the rhinos ghosted back into the bush
from whence they had come. We all looked at each other,
wide-eyed in wonder, and finally blurted out our amazement
with exclamations of ‘wow!’
Essence of wildernessHere we were, camping in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, one of
Africa’s three oldest protected areas, proclaimed in 1897.
For five days and four nights we were hiking the Primitive
Trail through the reserve’s dedicated wilderness area, 300
square kilometres of untouched bushveld in the southwest
of the reserve.
There’s no evidence of people in the wilderness area: no
huts, no telephone poles, no tourist facilities, no cars, no jeep
tracks; not even rangers are allowed to drive their 4x4s here,
unless exceptional circumstances require it.
‘Wilderness is the landscape which contains only the plants
and animals native to it,’ game ranger Jim Feely wrote in 1957,
advocating for a formal wilderness area at iMfolozi. ‘Where
people are alone with the living Earth. Where there is neither
fixed nor mechanical artefact. Once this environment was
everywhere, now only relics remain. Yet in these places are
the original bonds between mankind and the Earth.’
We had left behind the modern world and its contraptions
such as cars, cellphones and watches. We were sleeping on
thin mattresses under the stars. We cooked simple dinners
on a small campfire, which also kept wild animals away
during the night. An armed ranger guided us as we carried
our backpacks and walked through the bushveld, following
the tracks of other animals.
toP: A giraffe glides across the silvery water of the White Umfolozi River, seen from a spectacular viewpoint called Shaka’s Rock. above: Trail guide Nunu Jobe admiring a chameleon, one of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi’s smaller, yet equally fascinating creatures.
Year in the Wild HluHluwe-iMfolozi
Nunu Jobe was our guide, a short but stocky Zulu with
a guineafowl feather in his hair and a smile as wide as the
blue sky. After our spectacular rhino sighting, he hushed us,
smiling understandably at our excitement. For many in the
group, this was the first experience of camping in the middle
of an African wilderness. For some, these rhino were the first
we had seen on foot, eye to eye, and it was a sighting that
may never have been possible.
Three hundred years ago, there were probably several
million white rhino spread across Southern Africa, from the
Namibian coast to the Mozambican floodplains, from the
Karoo plains to the Zambezi River in northern Zimbabwe.
By 1890, hunters had killed so many that no more than about
40 individuals survived on Earth and they all lived on a narrow
wedge of land near the confluence of the White and Black
Umfolozi rivers in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
After a hunter shot six of these rhino in 1894, the South
African public finally woke up to the tragedy of so much
slaughter. The area was proclaimed a reserve, rhino were
declared royal game and hunting of them was prohibited.
For more than 50 years this was the only place in the
world where white rhino could be found and by the 1950s
the population had recovered to around 430 individuals.
Over the next few decades, warden Ian Player and his team
relocated hundreds of them from iMfolozi to other reserves
www.getaway.co.za 85
in Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Botswana and
Mozambique, to repopulate their traditional range. They also
sent several rhinos to zoos across the world to safeguard the
species. Today, there are more than 20 000 white rhino, most
of them in Africa, each one descended from those few that
survived near the Umfolozi rivers.
After dinner we sat around the fire and Nunu put things into
a philosophical perspective. ‘The animals here are living like
their forefathers,’ the barrel-chested Zulu explained softly.
‘They haven’t changed at all over millions of years. But we
have changed so much. Is that a good thing? What gives us
the right to change so much? You decide.’
We listened carefully to his rhythmic voice, clear in the
star-studded sky. His eyes reflected the flames of the camp-
fire. A hyena howled in the distance. ‘Nothing separates us
from the animals. We are made of exactly the same stuff.
What gives us the right to destroy beautiful wild creatures
like the rhino?’
I went to sleep wondering about my true place in the world
and reflecting on the past few days. We had seen not only
white rhino, but the smaller black rhino too. We’d walked
alongside herds of zebra and giraffe, curiosity emboldening
them to stand their ground. Kudu, impala, buffalo and
wildebeest seemed more skittish. A bull elephant had walked
across the river, near to our campsite and one afternoon we
watched from the top of a cliff as a pride of nine lions lounged
lazily in the sun below. Spotted hyenas were regular morning
visitors, coming to drink after a night on the prowl. And then
there was the territorial leopard whose rasping call echoed in
the early hours of each morning, a sound not easily forgotten.
oPPosite PaGe: A bull elephant lets us know who’s boss. above: Hikers carry their own packs on the Primitive Trail, but there’s plenty of time to stop, relax and contemplate the beauty and diversity of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi.
Other wildlife wonders We had experienced the essence of Africa’s wildness
at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, which protects a full panoply of
creatures. Not even five per cent of the size of Kruger, the
reserve nevertheless conserves important populations of
the Big Five, plus sizeable numbers of endangered species.
There are close to 100 painted dogs, one of the highest
densities in Africa, while viable populations of leopard
and cheetah are also found. More than 600 elephants roam
the reserve, introduced in the 1980s from Kruger after the
local population was decimated by colonial hunters in the
1800s, and sizeable numbers of white-headed and lappet-
faced vultures nest in the reserve. There are also some
unique insect species, which have yet to be found elsewhere
in the world, including such wonderfully named creatures as
the gladiator-keeled millipede (Allawrencius gladiator) and
Sternberg’s keratin beetle (Trox sternbergi). One of the most important steps in the park’s development
was the amalgamation in 1989 of what used to be two
separate reserves: Hluhluwe in the northeast, and iMfolozi in
the southwest. Today they’re one and the corridor between
them has been incorporated into the reserve, even though it’s
still owned by the Mpukunyoni and Hlabisa communities.
‘This is a very diverse place,’ ecologist Dave Druce explained
of a reserve which is about 60 kilometres from north to south.
‘And that’s because there are huge differences in topography,
Year in the Wild HluHluwe-iMfolozi
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oPPosite: A white rhino cow and calf, descendants from the few that were saved from extinction in the late 1890s. this PaGe, from toP: A hiker revels in the wide-open spaces of a truly wild landscape; a female golden orb spider spins its web, while trail guide Nunu Jobe points out the tiny male on its back.
was blasting from Somkhele Mine. Although their presence
is not ideal, the mines provide jobs to the communities and,
according to Dave, the management co-operates as much
as possible with the reserve.
Despite the pressures from outside, it’s still a wild place
where animals rule. One night, Dave and two researchers
were surrounded by a pride of 23 lions. Having darted three
lions to take samples, they managed to keep the other 20
predators away by revving their vehicles. ‘Needless to say,
that was memorable, if a bit too close for comfort.’
Other staff members have had equally impressive wildlife
encounters. Members of the game capture unit, which was
so instrumental in saving the white rhino from extinction,
are used to unforgettable spectacles.
‘One day we were walking along the White Umfolozi
River looking for black rhino,’ game capture specialist
Jed Bird said. ‘We made our way up to a little rise and I
couldn’t believe my eyes. There were two elephants, a
herd of about 200 buffalo, a white rhino and a leopard
and her cub. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any
better, a black rhino came out of the reeds and chased
two cheetahs away from their kill.’
Visitors who explore the reserve in their cars will be equally
impressed by the density of wildlife and today the stakes are
as high as ever to conserve it for future generations. The
reserve protects more than 10 per cent of the world’s white
rhino population and close to five per cent of all black rhinos.
Rampant poaching across Southern Africa is threatening to
undo the good work of Ian Player and his team in the 1960s
rainfall and vegetation.’ The altitude ranges from just 60
metres above sea level in the hot, humid valleys of iMfolozi
to more than 500 metres in the hills of Hluhluwe, where
beautiful scarp forest thrives in a refreshingly cooler climate.
There’s no better place to appreciate the scenery than from
Hilltop Camp, Hluhluwe’s main rest camp. While enjoying
lunch or dinner at the excellent Mpunyane Restaurant, you
can see almost all the way to Lake St Lucia (about 60
kilometres away) on a clear day. On the hills below, try
spot wandering black rhino or elephant.
Mpila Camp in iMfolozi offers a real sense of wildness.
There are no fences, so zebra, kudu and nyala wander
between the bungalows and leopard, hyena and lion are
sometimes attracted to the sizzle of meat on braais.
Challenges facedHowever, this wildness is restricted to within the fences of
the reserve. Hluhluwe-iMfolozi is an island of nature within
a sea of humanity and development. This is perhaps the
greatest challenge that the reserve faces, especially with
predators living near to people, cattle and goats.
According to iMfolozi conservation manager Patrick Sibeko,
about 50 000 people live near to its borders, and houses can
be seen right on the fence line. Good relationships with these
communities are vital and school kids are frequently taken
into the reserve on educational trips, so they can appreciate
the wild wonders on their doorstep.
Also on the borders are two anthracite mines. One evening
on the trail we heard a distant boom, and Nunu explained it
Year in the Wild HluHluwe-iMfolozi
and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi isn’t immune; it has lost more than 30
rhinos in the past few years.
The glory of Africa’s wildlife – and its precarious, fragile
state – is on full display at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, perhaps more
so than any other reserve I have visited during my Year in the
Wild. And nowhere can visitors absorb the wild wonders
more than on the Primitive Trail. It’s undoubtedly one of
Africa’s quintessential experiences and must be done at
least once in your life.
Despite sleeping in the open among wild animals, I felt
safer than ever before and a sense of belonging and calmness
permeated my head and heart. Somehow the modern world
– even with its conveniences and benefits – seemed foreign,
noisy and scary. On our last morning of the trail, as we
walked back to so-called civilisation, I remembered some
words from Ian Player’s book, Zululand Wilderness. The
former warden of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi had walked the first
trail back in 1959 with his friend and mentor, Magqubu
Ntombela. Now five decades later, the wilderness had
stamped its same indelible mark on me.
‘Africa had soul, and my own soul was linked to it,’ Dr
Player wrote. ‘In the wild places that I had worked in and
tried to protect, the ancient soul of Africa still lived. I looked
at the wildlife with different eyes and heard the music of
the bush with other ears. It was as though an opening had
been hacked into my consciousness and there was over-
whelming joy at this discovery. From that evening on I
trod the earth differently.’
Travel planner overleaf
Getting there Drive north from Durban on the N2 for about 230 km, then turn left onto the R618. Continue for about 25 km until you cross a cattle grid into the reserve. The turn-off to Nyalazi Gate is about 3 km further on.
GatesGates open from 05h00 to 19h00 (November to February) and 06h00 to 18h00 (March to October). There is a daily con-servation and day-visitor fee of R60 an adult and R30 a child.
Where to stayiMfoloziMpila Camp has 34 self-catering chalets, cottages and safari tents and costs from R385 a person. There’s no restaurant, but visitors can buy basic food items at a small store. Masinda Lodge is an eight-sleeper house with a kitchen and lounge and costs R4 000 a night for eight people. Gqoyeni Bush Lodge, Hlatikhulu Bush Lodge and Nselweni Bush Camp are several kilometres apart on the Black Umfolozi River. Gqoyeni has four units and a communal kitchen and costs R5 400 a night for eight people. Hlatikhulu is a self-catering house, with a cook provided, and costs R4 800 a night for eight people. Nselweni has eight two-bed self-catering chalets and a communal kitchen (cook provided) and costs R1 130 a night for two people.
Photojournalist Scott Ramsay is documenting and photographing 31 of South Africa’s most special reserves, including all the national parks. Year in the Wild is sponsored by Total, Ford, Goodyear, Frontrunner and Evosat, among others – turn to page 102 for Scott’s reviews of this gear. For more, go to www.year-
inthewild.com and www.facebook.com/yearinthewild. You can also follow his journey on blog.getaway.co.za.
HluhluweHilltop Camp has 69 self-catering chalets and rondavels, sleeping from two to four people. From R495 a person a night. The nearby Mthwazi Lodge is an eight-bed luxury self-catering house, with a cook provided. Costs R4 320 a night for six peo-ple (R360 for each additional adult). Muntulu Bush Lodge on the Hluhluwe River is an eight-bed self-catering house, including a cook. Munyawaneni Bush Lodge has four units sleeping up to eight people as well as a communal lounge and kitchen, with a cook. Both bush lodges cost R4 330 a night for six people (R720 an additional adult and R360 a child).
What to doGuided morning walks are offered at Hilltop (R250 a person) and Mpila (R215 a person), while game drives from Hilltop are R300 a person and from Mpila for R270 a person. Two- to five-day wilderness trails cost from R2 250 a person. The four-night Primitive Trail costs R2 770 a person, including food and participants share cooking responsibilities. Minimum age for children on wilderness trails is 16 years if unaccompanied by parent, and 14 years if accompanied.
Who to contactEzemvelo KZN Wildlife, tel 033-845-1000, email [email protected], www.kznwildlife.com.
Year in the Wild HluHluwe-iMfolozi
mpila Camp
88 Getaway November 2012
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68 destinations to choose from, view the ‘Big 5' in our game reserves, enjoy breathtaking scenery on a
Drakensberg hike or explore the sparkling Indian Ocean that hugs the KZN coastline.Accommodation ranges from camping to fully self-contained chalets and bush lodges.
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