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Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park - South Africa Safari
'Imfolozi' the heart of the Zulu Kingdom, the home of the White Rhino, where wilderness trails take you along mighty rivers wandering through thorn savannah inhabited by the big five of African legend. Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park is the oldest game reserve in Africa proclaimed in 1895.
It was the exclusive hunting preserve of the Zulu kings who protected the area by proclaiming conservation laws long before any formal protection. The game pits in which animals were trapped can still be seen today. Game viewing is the prime attraction. Viewing hides overlook pans and waterholes enabling visitors to see animals at close range.
As the home of "Operation Rhino" in the 1950s and 60s, the Park became world renowned for its White Rhino conservation. Other areas of focus for which it is famed include its wilderness trails which originated in Imfolozi in the 1950s and its renowned Game Capture unit recently upgraded into the Centenary Capture Center which is a bench mark for animal capture and sustainable utilization in Africa.
Hluhluwe Imfolozi covers some 96 000 hectares and an immense diversity of fauna and flora occurs in this region. Imfolozi, the southern component of the park lies west of the town of Mtubatuba. The region is generally hot in summer, and mild to cool in winter, although cold spells do occur. Larger mammals to be seen include buffalo, blue wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, elephant, and large numbers of impala, waterbuck, common and mountain reedbuck, nyala, kudu, bushbuck, steenbuck, duiker, warthog, black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena and jackal. In excess of 300 species of birds have been recorded. There are a number of picnic sites and three self-guided walks providing magnificent views. Two daily walks in the company of a field ranger can be booked through the camp office.
Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park Wildlife
Hluhluwe Imfolozi is one of South Africa's most popular game parks affording visitors fascinating wildlife encounters. The wide range of plant life in the park gives rise to a diversity of mammals, birdlife, reptiles and amphibians. The BIG FIVE - lion, rhino (back & white) elephant, buffalo and leopard are all to be seen in the park, as well as a variety of other species, including cheetah, wild dog and giraffe. It is also one of the best places in the world to see nyala.
When uncontrolled hunting brought many game species to the brink of local extinction, Hluhluwe and Imfolozi were set aside as protected areas for game in 1895. Through good conservation practices and the world famous project "Operation Rhino", the white rhino population was brought back from extinction in this park. Numbering less than 20 animals in 1900 they now number in excess of 10 000 world wide. The park management boasts one of the best conservation teams in the world, and enjoys international acclaim for its conservation efforts, not least in the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park.
People & Culture Of Hluhluwe Imfolozi Area
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park lies in the heart of rural Zululand where its neighbors, the abaKwaZulu (the people of Heaven) and Nguni people reside. According to reseachers, the southern Bantu had by AD900 become separated into three branches in Central Africa - the Nguni, the Venda-Karanga, and the Thonga.
For 300 years from their founding by Zulu, son of Malandela, until Shaka's chieftaincy in 1804 they had experienced an agrarian existence a few kilometres south of the White Mfolozi River. On these fertile wild pastures they grazed their valuable herds of cattle and constructed comfortable villages of hive shaped huts. They and their neighbors lived much as their common ancestors had during the thousands of years the drifting southward migration took to bring them from Central Africa to their present destination.
The Zulus were an undistinguished Nguni clan among many. One man's genius was to change all that. The Zulus were to become famous amongst South African Bantu Tribes, when Shaka, the Black Napoleon, became their ruler and began a career of conquest and destruction , which made itself felt over half a continent.
The Zulu Empire was forged on the anvil of Shaka's ambition and fuelled by his vengeful anger stemming from childhood taunts regarding his illegitimate birth. The embittered boy developed into a physical and mental giant with a breadth of concept and single-mindedness unprecedented in contemporary African affairs.
Unlike the inconclusive posturing that until then passed as battles, Shaka waged war in the grand manner, remorseless and total. From chief of a tiny Zulu clan of 1500 people, he expanded his power base through conquest and assimilation until his assassination 12 years later at the age of 41. By that time he controlled two million subjects, maintained a superbly disciplined army of 50 000 warriors and controlled an area ten times greater than present day Zululand, while his shadow hovered over territory 12 times greater. Shaka's legacy lives on. Clans adjacent to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park whose ancestors amongst the Mthethwa, Ngwane and Ndwandwe people consider themselves to be Zulu, loyal to a "Zulu" King and living on land (Ngonyama Trust Land ) held in trust for the King.
Modern settlement patterns that have affected and influenced these communities include forced removals during the apartheid era, the villagization concept (mostly affecting people in the Mthethwa, Mthembu, Biyela and Mlaba Tribal Authorities), the tenant farmers settling in land adjacent to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, refugee settlement from the internecine faction fighting in Tugela Ferry area and the migrant labour system which has resulted in many house-holds being without their main breadwinners for most part of the year.
Imfolozi Wilderness Area Trails
Introduction
Within the boundaries of the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, and for the greater part lying wedged between the White and Black Imfolozi rivers, lies the "jewel" in the crown of South Africa's wilderness areas. The wilderness area covers some 30 000 hectares. The wilderness is an area where the earth and it's inhabitants are not disturbed by man, and where man himself is but a visitor who does not remain. In this area access is only permitted on foot, canoe or horseback. There are no roads and the only tracks are those made by animals. Managed so that its pristine character is not altered in any way, it is an area in which the sights and sounds of nature dominate.
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Imfolozi Wilderness Area Trails
Introduction
Within the boundaries of the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, and for the greater part lying wedged between the White and Black Imfolozi rivers, lies the "jewel" in the crown of South Africa's wilderness areas. The wilderness area covers some 30 000 hectares. The wilderness is an area where the earth and it's inhabitants are not disturbed by man, and where man himself is but a visitor who does not remain. In this area access is only permitted on foot, canoe or horseback. There are no roads and the only tracks are those made by animals. Managed so that its pristine character is not altered in any way, it is an area in which the sights and sounds of nature dominate.
History Of The Imfolozi Wilderness Area Trails
During the 1950s, far sighted conservationists recognized that Imfolozi's resources of solitude and an unmodified environment needed to be nurtured and protected. Even then, much of old Zululand was rapidly disappearing under the plough and gun. These men recognized that all present and future generations of mankind deserved to experience the inspirational power of an unmodified African landscape. Their basic understanding of the wilderness concept was crystallized and verbalized when game ranger, Jim Feely, presented them with a document of the American Wilderness Society, listing the eleven fundamental principles of the Wilderness concept.
Due to the vision of Dr Ian Player, the then Warden-in-Charge of Imfolozi, and with the determined backing of Colonel Jack Vincent, the then Director of the former Natal Parks Board, Imfolozi's Wilderness Area became the first to be set aside in Africa.
On March 19, 1959, Dr Player and his legendary game guard and friend, Magqubu Ntombela, led the first official wilderness trail along the rhino paths and into the traditional hunting grounds of the great Zulu kings. The wilderness area, today, remains a piece of ancient Zululand frozen in time, a living monument to the Zulu nation. Ancient battlefields and relics bear testimony to its turbulent history.
Exploring & Understanding The Imfolozi Wilderness Area Trails
It is important to have the correct perspective when embarking on a trail. Although there is the opportunity of seeing the Big Five in Imfolozi, this is not the main aim of a trail. The focus of these trails is to introduce the trailists to the concept of Wilderness; it's ethic, philosophy, principles and values. We aim to facilitate an experience that embraces some of the fundamental values of Wilderness; solitude, timelessness, freedom from a world where man is in control, and a place where the sounds and ways of Nature pervade. Game viewing is part of it, but there is much else which we will enjoy and discover on a Wilderness trail in Imfolozi The objective of a trail is to have a wilderness experience, and visitors embarking on an Imfolozi wilderness trail experience the primitive wilderness in which they observe all facets of the bush, both great and small. They discover the many intricate patterns of nature that would otherwise elude them when driving around in a car. It is also a unique opportunity to ask those questions that inevitably crop up.
Imfolozi is internationally renowned for its white rhino, having the largest population in Africa. It also has the highest concentration of black rhino in Africa. The bushveld nature of the area lends itself to a magnificent wilderness experience. Once the private hunting ground of the great Zulu king, Shaka, the area is steeped in Zulu history.
Aside from the obvious benefits of enjoying the natural world, the wilderness experience offers a unique opportunity to absorb the holistic impact of wild areas on individual lives. One is able to appreciate silence and solitude which are largely lost qualities in today's world of technological advancement. Also one feels the freedom of leaving their watch behind and living by the rhythms of nature, rather than by the dictates of the watch. This is an experience of physical, mental and spiritual refreshment, a time of refocusing one's life and re-exploring value systems.
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