Maputaland

A Wilderness Wonderland Safari

Maputaland, a fascinating area with some of Africa’s older cultural practices, such as the traditional fish drives and traps of the Thonga people.

Maputaland lies at the point of transition between subtropical and tropical zones, making it home to an extraordinary profusion of indigenous plants and animals not found in many other parts of the country.

Pristine beaches lining the coast are the ancient breeding grounds of the once endangered leatherback and loggerhead turtles. The glorious coral reefs swarm with an incredible variety of colourful fishes, and the crystal-clear waterways are filled with hippo and crocodile, while fish eagle and palm nut vulture soar overhead. Maputaland is synonymous with wildlife, and it is here that you can still hear the voice of ancient Africa.

Adjoining this unspoiled coastline is a patchwork of conservation areas protecting the region’s vegetated dune forests, lake systems, estuaries, swamps, bushveld and forests.

Game viewing drives at Tembe Elephant Park, Ndumo Game Reserve, Hluhluwe Game Reserve, Phinda Recourse Reserve and Mkuzi Game Reserve is all part of the Maputuland experience.

Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park
The Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park was declared South Africa's first Natural World Heritage Site on 1 December 1999. It is considered South Africa's third largest park and extends from Mapelane (Cape St. Lucia) in the South, to Kozi Bay in the North.

The Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park incorporates Lake St Lucia, the St Lucia and Maputaland Marine Reserves, the Coastal Forest Reserve and Kosi Bay Nature Reserve. The park has 280km of near pristine coastline and comprises of 328 000 hectares of magnificent scenery. Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park encompasses an immense mosaic of habitats ranging from marine systems (coral reefs and beaches) and coastal forests (from salt and fresh water marshes to the open estuarine waters of Lake St Lucia itself) from lush coastal plains to the drier woodland areas. This is a remarkably beautiful place in South Africa.

The park is situated in the southern end of the Mozambique coastal plain near the towns of St Lucia, Mtubatuba, Hluhluwe, Mkuze, Mbaswana and Manguzi. This is a transitional zone in terms of fauna and flora between the temperate forms of the south and the tropical forms in the north and many species are endemic to this coastal plain. The protected area is home to the largest population of hippopotamus and approximately 1,000 crocodiles as well as a wealth of plant and animal life.
The largest mammal found in the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park is the humpback whale and on land the African Elephant. In 2001 Elephant was introduced into the wetlands system and this has brought this area closer to "big five" status and has re-introduced a key ecological vector. Other mammals include Buffalo, Rhino, Zebra, Eland and Kudu. Wildlife Safaris on horseback is an extraordinary experience as the game sees you as part of the horse and doesn’t frighten easily which affords you the opportunity to get up close to the animals.

Of great interest is the staggering array of birdlife to be found in the St Lucia Wetlands. Over 500 different species of birds are resident or pass through the wetland system annually and comprise of marine, wetland and forest birds. The park has one of the most diverse variety of frogs and their choruses can often be heard at night and on dull rainy days. The highly endangered gaboon adder and a large variety of other snake species reside in this subtropical coastal dune forest. Other reptiles, such as the marine turtles, the Leatherback Turtle and Loggerhead Turtles utilise the protective beaches of the St Lucia Wetlands Park to breed in November of each year.
The St Lucia Wetlands Park is a popular destination and offers a wide range of activities. Fishing, boating and bird-watching, scuba-diving, hiking and camping are all on offer and the region offers marvellous photographic opportunities to the amateur and professional photographer alike.

Lake Sibaya
Lake Sibaya is the largest fresh water lake in South Africa with a surface area of 77 km² and an average depth of 13 m. The lake was previously connected to the sea and with the closure of the estuary, numerous invertebrates and vertebrates were trapped in a fresh water environment.

Lake Sibaya is a drowned river valley lake with a maximum depth of over 40m. Many smaller pans typical of those elsewhere in the area surround the lake. In years of poor rainfall many of these smaller pans dry up leaving Lake Sibaya as the only permanent water in the area where flocks of up to 20 000 waterfowl can congregate. The eastern shores of the lake have very rich dune forest habitat which harbours many of the Zululand east coast species.

The Reserve is a protected area along the northern KwaZulu Natal Coastline. Each beach has limited access so the experience is exclusive and special with miles and miles of white sand. Scuba-diving, snorkelling, swimming and sunbathing are the main activities. Accompanied by a guide or solo, there is no better way to explore the many tiny inlets around the lake edge, the closest experience one will get outside the Okavango Swamps. Walks are conducted in the Community Conservation Area, in the forest and along the lake edge. One will have the opportunity to see small game such as Zebra, Nyala, Reedbuck and Impala. Join one of our specialist guides and learn about the medicinal uses of the Trees and Plants in the area or the prolific birdlife.

During summer months commencing in November and through to February, the great Leatherback turtles return year after year to the Marine Reserve between St Lucia and the Mozambique border. Here they make their nests in the sand dunes, deposit their eggs and slip back into the sea.

Mkuze Game Reserve
A place of great beauty and high contrasts, Mkhuze is renowned as a Mecca for bird lovers with more than 420 bird species on record.

The Mkhuze River curves along the reserve's northern and eastern borders with a fine stretch of fig forest along its banks. Fish eagles swoop over the pans, snatching prey spotted from their perches in the fever trees.

The reserve has an astonishing diversity of natural habitats, from the eastern slopes of the Lebombo Mountains along its eastern boundary, to broad stretches of acacia savannah, swamps and a variety of woodlands and Riverine forest. A rare type of sand forest also occurs in the reserve.

Eshowe

It's cool, elevated position on a hilltop overlooking the hot and humid coastal plain gives Eshowe its serenity but the Dlinza Forest around which the town wraps itself, gives Eshowe its spirit.

No other town in South Africa has blended so organically into its environment as Eshowe.

The core of the 250-hectare coastal scarp Dlinza Forest is a declared nature reserve but tracts of the beautiful, high forest as well as patches of wild flowers and grassland are dispersed throughout the leafy avenues of the town.

Blessed with this abundant natural diversity, Eshowe residents boast that that there is a tree in flower every day of the year in their town.

This lush environment and refreshing climate has always attracted human habitation and no less than four Zulu kings have at some stage lived here, though Eshowe probably owes its modern beginnings to the Norwegian missionaries who established a station here in the mid-19th century.

During the Anglo Zulu War of 1879 British soldiers used the mission as a fort and were besieged by the Zulu army for 10 weeks.

During the Zulu Civil War a few years later, Eshowe became the British military headquarters and a large peacekeeping force of 3 000 British troops was encamped in tents at Fort Curtis for about 16 years.

There was a rush of trading ventures to cater to the needs of such a large garrison and during this period it was made the capital of the colony of Zululand.

No evidence of Fort Curtis remains - it occupied a large area in the vicinity of the present Eshowe Sports Club - but the town remains a busy commercial hub long after the departure of the last British soldier.

Today it continues to charm visitors and Eshowe was recently voted amongst the top 10 towns of South Africa by a popular travel magazine.

DLINZA FOREST AERIAL BOARDWALK

Eshowe offers a variety of unusual attractions. Beside the forest itself with its hiking trails, fern-covered glades and rich diversity, visitors can now get a new perspective on the forest - a bird's eye view - from the recently-built Dlinza Forest Aerial Boardwalk.

The boardwalk - the first in South Africa - is a 125m-walkway which takes visitors from the forest understorey into its leafy canopy giving a close glimpse of life high above the forest floor - birds nesting and feeding, epiphytic orchids flowering in dappled light and giant trees competing for light and space.

At the end of the walkway, visitors can climb the 20m-high viewing tower which emerges above the canopy of the trees and has magnificent views over the forest and of the countryside leading down to the coast.

Spectacular views can be enjoyed from Martyr's Cross on the outskirts of Eshowe. The simple cross on a high bluff overlooking the deep uMlalazi river valley below marks the burial site of the first Zulu Christian martyr, Maqhamusela Khanyile, a convert who was executed in 1877 for refusing to serve in King Cetshwayo's army.

The site of the original Norwegian Lutheran Church mission station kwaMondi - known as the place of 'Mondi' which was Rev Ommund Oftebro's Zulu name - is nearby but all that remains of this historic site is the Norwegian cemetery.

During the Anglo Zulu War the British forces were surrounded by Zulu warriors for 10 weeks at kwaMondi. By the time relief arrived 25 British officers and soldiers had died due to the lack of adequate medical provisions and they are buried in the nearby British Military Cemetery.

Just a little further south east from this site is Mbomboshana - the highest point in the area - where the besieged soldiers, using shaving mirrors, heliographed messages to their comrades based at Fort Pearson near the mouth of uThukela river.

Uncertainty surrounds the origins of the town's name, many believing that its name is an onomatopoeic Zulu derivation of the sound of cool breezes sighing through the forest.
Oral history suggests that it was the name of a chief's homestead located near present-day Eshowe. This may be, although it is more likely that the name is derived from the vast number of Xysmalobium (milkwort) shrubs growing in the grasslands around Eshowe.
In pre-Shaka days they were called iShowe or iTshowe by the Nguni clans living in this area. In present-day Zulu the plant is known as ishongwe.
It is used in traditional medicine to treat dysentery and headaches but is also used as a charm to divert storms.

Wildlife
This diversity of habitats means a wide variety of animal species including black and white rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, nyala, blue wildebeest, warthog, eland, hippo, impala, kudu and other smaller antelope. Rare species occurring in the reserve are cheetah, hyaena, suni and leopard.

Three game viewing hides have been constructed next to the Kubube, Kamasinga, Kwamalibala pans. Visitors park their cars and enter the hides on foot. Depending on the surface water in the reserve, but normally during the drier winter months, large concentrations of game may be seen at the waterholes.

Visitors are therefore offered excellent views of most of the reserve’s larger mammals. These hides offer unique opportunities to photographers and many famous wildlife pictures have been taken there.

Two beautiful pans, Nhlonhlela and Nsumo, lie in the north and east respectively, home to communities of hippo, crocodile, pinkbacked and white pelicans, as well as a diversity of ducks and geese which gather in spring.

A Zulu cultural village in the reserve offers a glimpse of the traditional lifestyle and crafts of the KwaJobe community.

Activities

• Birding, game viewing and sitting quietly in the three game viewing hides are the most popular activities in Mkhuze.
• Night drives, guided walks, the auto trail and swimming are also available.
• The reserve has 100 kilometers of roads for game viewing.
• Guided night drives are undertaken weather permitting.
• Game walks take place twice daily starting at 06h00 in summer, and 15h00 in winter.
• Birding in Mkhuze offers some of the best birding opportunities in South Africa and with a bird list of 420 species is excellent all year round.
• Guided birding walks take place twice daily starting at 06h00 in summer, and 15h00 in winter.