Kwa Zulu Natal self drive holiday
Description of Kwa Zulu Natal self drive holiday
This fabulously flexible fortnight in the Kwa Zulu Natal region of South Africa invites travellers to experience a self drive itinerary that features UNESCO sites, historic battlegrounds and some of South Africa’s lesser-known private game reserves and unadulterated Indian Ocean beaches.
From two nights in the Drakensberg Mountains to three nights on the Kwa Zulu Natal coast in St Lucia, although this is a driving holiday you’ll still be offered ample excuses to relax and take it all in.
Of course, as this is a tailor made tour you’re free to choose how much or how little free time you wish to add to the suggested itinerary below. Kwa Zulu Natal is an extraordinary region and abundant in tribal heritage and opportunities to watch wildlife in their natural habitat.
Exploring on two feet or two wheels is a great way to stretch your legs outside of your hire car with hiking and mountain biking in the Drakensberg just as immersive as snorkelling or deep sea fishing in the Indian Ocean.
The added incentive for families is that the Kwa Zulu Natal region is malaria free as well as allowing kids, and parents, to discover a different side to South Africa away from the crowds along the coast.
Pick your points of interest and design a self drive holiday to suit you as this is an area of Africa that really does require closer inspection from a wide range of fascinating perspectives.
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Planet
The accommodation that we use in the Drakensburgs, bases its ethos on the conservation of the region. For the last ten years, they have planted and preserved, changing a Wattle infested wasteland into a rehabilitated conservation area. Indigneous trees and man-made forests continue to flourish and the resultant birdlife (once non-existent) has become abundant. This ethic has resulted in the return to the region of the Mountain Reedbuck, Vaal Rhebuck and the Eland.Hulhuwe-Umfolozi is the oldest National Park in South Africa and is the birthplace of rhino-reservation, breeding the species back from. As the home of Operation Rhino in the 1950s and '60s, the Park became world renowned for its white rhino conservation. The Rhino Capture Unit of the park can take credit for helping save the endangered White Rhino from the brink of extinction.
Today the reserve has over 1,600 white rhino and has moved hundreds of these magnificent animals to game reserves around the world. The private guide on this trip is a former ranger in the park, as well as being a qualified botanist, so is best placed to given a full account of the white rhino conservation efforts and encourage guests to support this vital conservation programme on top of this trips overall contribution to the scheme.
People
The accommodation used the in the battlefields area has involved the local community from its inception. The land was purchased from the community, so they were provided with capital for infrastructure improvement. The community has an equity stake in accommodation, so benefits from the profits. Guests are also encouraged to attend the local school and contribute to lessons in English or Afrikaans.The trip goes into the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. iSimangaliso boasts the largest protected area of recorded and potential Stone Age and Iron Age sites in South Africa and is located in one of the most deprived areas of the country. It is managed by the ISimangaliso Wetland Park Authority, which was established in 2000 through the World Heritage Convention Act.
In response to the poor socio-economic conditions of the area, the Authority was given a specific mandate by national government to not only facilitate the protection and conservation of the natural World Heritage Site, but also to optimise sustainable poverty reduction and economic empowerment of communities living in and adjacent to the Park through tourism and related development. It has been so successful that it was a finalist in the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow awards in 2011.
This helps contributes towards the work that the authority are undertaking.
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