KwaZulu-Natal
Perhaps the most diverse province in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal contains approximately a quarter of the South African population and ranges from semi-tropical and tropical coastlands to snow-capped peaks in the Drakensberg. In an otherwise arid country it has the same rainfall as Great Britain.
DURBAN: Growing at an alarming rate, Durban is South Africa’s third-largest city, a mix of cultures including a large Indian community and a new influx of Africans from countries to the north. Because of the almost tropical climate, swimming is possible all year round, although the city’s beaches are becoming increasingly crowded. The central beach area, called the Golden Mile, actually stretches for 6km (4 miles) from the Umgeni River to the Point. Along it are a wide variety of souvenir stalls and family entertainments, from the excellent Seaworld to funfairs, a snake park and mini-golf. This stretch has also increasingly become a target for muggers, and there are safer and quieter beaches north and south.
Colonial Durban has its heart in Francis Farewell Square, surrounded by a number of fine Victorian and Edwardian buildings including the City Hall (which now contains the Natural Science Museum and Durban Art Gallery, featuring a fine collection of black South African art and craft). Not far away is the African Arts Centre, where much local art is for sale. To the north is Central Park. To the west of the centre is the Indian District, characterised by markets, mosques, temples and well-preserved buildings from the turn of the century, including the Juma Musjid Mosque. At the other end of the Madressa Arcade is the Emmanuel Cathedral. To the north is the Victoria Street Market, filled with spices, curios and fresh produce.
To the north, the Botanical Gardens offer cool respite. The other major attractions of Durban lie along the Victoria Embankment and beyond, and include the Yacht Mole, the Ocean Terminal Building (relic of the age of sea travel) and the Sugar Terminal, the nexus of KwaZulu-Natal’s massive sugar industry. Further out west is the suburb of Cato Manor, a fascinating mix of shanties and temples including the Shree Alayam Second River Hindu Temple, which has a firewalking festival in autumn.
Scattered around the town and suburbs are several other interesting small museums, such as the Killie Campbell Collection, an excellent African cultural collection in an old Cape-Dutch mansion, the little Kwamuhle Museum of local 20th-century history, the Natal Maritime Museum and the Old Court House.
EXCURSIONS: Inland: Just north of Durban, the Valley of a Thousand Hills is a popular excursion for locals, with plenty of bijou shops and tearooms; the Assagay Safari Park and Phezulu are basic, child-friendly places offering a crocodile farm, snake park, children’s zoo and Zulu dancing. The Paradise Valley Nature Reserve is a wonderful place to walk off the beaten track.
The South Coast: South of Durban, a series of beach resorts including Amanzimtoti, Scottsburgh, Port Shepstone and Margate have run together to create a ribbon of fun, sea and sand aimed at the family market, with plenty of timeshares, self-catering apartments and fast food. Things to do include a crocodile farm, the Banana Express railway and the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve, a scenic collection of forests and steep gorges leading down to the beach, covered in dense forest. The offshore Aliwal Shoal and Protea Banks are some of the best dive sites in South Africa.
The North Coast: North of Durban is a similar string of slightly more upmarket resorts. Umhlanga Rocks is the home of the Natal Sharks Board, which offers audiovisual presentations and shark dissections to those with a taste for gore. Ballito offers a wide range of water and land sports, while just to the north, 19th-century Zulu king, Shaka, used to throw his enemies off the cliff at Shaka’s Rock. Other small towns in the area include Salt Rock, which has a small crocodile farm, Crocodile Creek, the sugar-cane community of Tongaat, and Shaka’s capital, Stanger, home to an interesting small museum.
THE MIDLANDS AND DRAKENSBERG: Between Natal’s coast and the mountains, there is an area of undulating wooded hills and grassy plains with scattered villages and lush farmland, known as the Natal Midlands. There are a number of small game reserves with a huge variety of animal and bird life in the Midlands and the foothills of the Drakensberg, while local rivers offer excellent fishing. Pietermaritzburg, joint state capital (with Ulundi) is the largest city in the area. Although founded by the Voortrekkers, the town’s architectural heritage is mostly Victorian, best seen in the area around Church Street. There are several excellent museums including the Natal Museum, Macrorie House Museum, Tatham Art Gallery and Voortrekker Museum. The city is particularly attractive in September, when the azaleas are in bloom. The Botanic Gardens enable visitors to look at a range of indigenous flora. Within easy reach of Pietermaritzburg are the Howick Falls, the Karkloof Falls and the Albert Falls Public Resort and Nature Reserve.
The Drakensberg is South Africa’s largest mountain range and the official southern end of the Great Rift Valley, which slices north across Africa for 6000km (3728 miles). Its name, which means ‘Dragon Mountains’ in Afrikaans, stems from the jagged backbone of saw-toothed peaks. It is a refreshing place with cold mountain streams shaded by ferns and ancient yellowwood trees. The mountains are capped with snow in winter. The area provides good walking, climbing and riding while the peaks are the realm of eagles and bearded vultures. Popular climbs include Champagne Castle, Cathkin Peak and Cathedral Peak.
In the nearby caves are good examples of the rock art of the Bushmen who, until a century ago, inhabited the area. The Main Caves, in the Giant’s Castle Game Reserve, boast more than 500 rock paintings in a single shelter. The reserve, which flanks the border with Lesotho, is dominated by a massive basalt wall incorporating the peaks of Giant’s Castle (3314m/10,873ft) and Injasuti (3459m/11,349ft) and is home to eland, other antelope and a variety of birds, including Cape vulture, jackal buzzard, black eagle and lammergeier.
Just to the north, the Royal Natal National Park is one of Natal’s most stunning reserves. Its dramatic scenery includes the Amphitheatre, an 8km-long (5 mile) crescent-shaped curve in the main basalt wall. It is flanked by two impressive peaks, the Sentinel (3165m/10,384ft) and the Eastern Buttress (3047m/9997ft). Even higher is Mont-aux-Sources at 3284m (10,775ft). It is the source of the Tugela River which plummets 2000m (6562ft) over the edge of the plateau. Hikers should enjoy following the spectacular Tugela Gorge.
THE BATTLEFIELDS: The northern part of KwaZulu-Natal is mainly rolling grassland, spiked by occasional rocky kopjies (hills) which became the bloody frontline in a whole series of wars between the Zulus, Afrikaans and British (1830–1902).
Ladysmith was the site of a devastating siege during the Anglo-Boer War. The Town Hall still shows the scars, while the old Market Hall next door is an excellent Siege Museum. Behind it, the Cultural Centre is dedicated to local cultures and heroes including former World Boxing Champion, Sugarboy Malinga, and the band, Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
There is another excellent museum, the Talana Museum, in Dundee, site of the first battle of the Boer War. This is also the best place from which to visit Isandlwana, Fugitive’s Drift and Rorkes Drift, where a devastating series of battles between the British and Zulus in January 1879 led to the desperate defence of Rorke’s Drift mission station by a garrison of 139. Before the battle began, 35 were already wounded. It resulted in the most Victoria Crosses in a single engagement in the history of British warfare and was filmed as Zulu, starring Michael Caine. The mission is now an interpretive and arts centre. Also nearby is the battlefield of Blood River, scene of a famous victory by the Afrikaaners over the Zulus in 1838.
Further east, the little Afrikaaner town of Vryheid (Freedom) was founded in 1884. Today, it is still a pretty little town, with three small museums, the Lukas Meijer House, the Old Carnegie Library and the Nieuwe Republiek Museum. Three major battles of the Anglo-Zulu War were fought nearby.
Just to the south, little-known, but game-rich, Itala Game Reserve (29,653 ha/73,243 acres) has spectacular golden grasslands, rocky kopjes and wooded valleys and is home to all major species except lion.
ZULULAND: In the mid-19th century, the Tugela River formed the boundary between British Natal and Zululand. Eshowe (‘the sound of wind in the trees’), now a pretty little farming town, has a Zulu royal pedigree. Fort Nongqayi (1883) is now the Zululand Historical Museum, while the Vukani Museum has the world’s largest collection of traditional Zulu arts and crafts. The 200 ha (494 acres) Dhlinza Forest is a small but beautiful patch of indigenous hardwood forest.
In the nearby hills are several Zulu cultural villages, including Shakaland, Pobane, KwaBhekithunga, Stewart’s Farm and Simunye, all providing food and accommodation, a tour of a village, discussion of lifestyle and medicine and dance displays. North of the little market town of Melmoth, Mgungundlovu (‘the place of the great elephant’) was the capital of King Dingane (c.1795–1843). The city was destroyed by the Afrikaans, but has now been partially rebuilt as a museum. Ulundi, joint capital of KwaZulu-Natal and still home of the Zulu monarchy, has relatively little for the tourist, but the site of the former royal capital, Ondini, is now the fascinating KwaZulu Cultural Museum.
Much of the northerly part of KwaZulu-Natal is made up of a series of interlinked public and private game reserves that together form one of Africa’s finest concentrations of wildlife. In addition, it has a startlingly beautiful coast, with silver sand beaches (shared with turtles), vast sand dunes and off-shore coral reefs. The 38,682 ha (95,545 acres) Greater St Lucia Wetland Reserve is a loose collection of wilderness areas around Lake St Lucia, including Mapelane, the St Lucia Game Reserve, False Bay Park, Sodwana Bay National Park, Cape Vidal State Forest, Sodwana State Forest, St Lucia Marine Reserve (stretching 5km/3 miles out to sea), the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and the Mkuzi Game Reserve. It covers five distinct ecosystems varying from dry thorn scrub to tropical forest and bordered by giant dunes, beaches and tropical reefs, has ‘Big Five’ game viewing, and is the only place in the world where hippos, crocodiles and sharks share the same lagoon. It also has superb birding and diving and, outside the National Park, excellent fishing.
The 96,000 ha (237,120 hectares) Hluhluwe-Umfolozi National Park offers a broad range of habitats, from rocky hillside to open savannah grass and thick woodland, supporting some 86 species of mammal and around 425 recorded bird species. This is the Eden of almost all white rhinos in the world, thanks to a carefully controlled breeding programme that has restocked much of the rest of Africa. Between here and St Lucia is the privately owned 17,000 ha (41,990 hectares) Phinda Resource Reserve. In the far north, near the Mozambique border, Lake Sibaya is the largest natural freshwater lake in southern Africa (77 sq km/30 sq miles), offering good bird watching, fishing and hiking. Beyond this, are the Ndumo and Tembe Game Reserves, with excellent wildlife, including a large rhino population and a variety of birds, and the magnificent coastal and marine Kosi Bay Nature Reserve; access is by four-wheel-drive only.
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