Durban Holidays Durban Beach Safari Holidays Drakensberg South Africa

KZN Wildlife Camps: Drakensberg + Zululand + Safari
DCK14D

14 NIGHTS
FROM $748
International flights and car hire quoted separately
If you are looking for an affordable self-drive holiday through wonderful KwaZulu Natal - and enjoy walking, wildlife & birding - this holiday is for you. Stay at simple but clean self-catering KZN Wildlife Camps in spectacular mountain, safari & beach locations and soak up all this fascinating region has to offer (pots & pans provided, but buy & cook your own food).
HIGHLIGHTS
Self Drive Holidays Durban Drakensberg Ithala Mkuze Hluhluwe Umfolozi Car Hire South Africa Car
• Durban • Midmar Dam • Drakensberg Mountains • Walking
• Bushman Paintings • Dundee • Ithala Game Reserve • Mkuze Game Reserve
• Hluhluwe • Big-5 Safari
Day 1
Arrive at Durban Airport, collect your hire car and drive 1.5-hours to Pietermaritzburg and through the rolling hills of the beautiful Natal Midlands to Midmar Dam near Howick.
 
Check into your KZN Wildlife self-catering rest camp and relax on the shores of the dam.
 
Day 2
Today drive 1.5-hours to the spectacular uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains, recognised as a World Heritage site for its vast collection of San Bushmen rock art paintings.
    
Known locally as the Barrier of Spears the dramatic Drakensberg Mountains form the backbone of Southern Africa, running all the way down from the Great Rift Valley. Check into your KZN Wildlife self-catering rest camp in this area of unspoilt natural beauty.
Day 3
At leisure to relax in the central Drakensberg Mountains, where there are many wonderful walks in the Giants Castle region - particularly noted for their Bushman Paintings.
 
Bird watching is also outstanding – particularly for raptors and grasslands species.
Day 4
Today drive 2-hours to your next KZN Wildlife rest camp, situated in the Northern Drakensberg region.
Day 5
At leisure to relax in the northern Drakensberg Mountains, with its superlative scenery and fresh mountain air making it ideal for walking holidays at any level of fitness.
  
The mountains also offer an outstanding location for bird watching – particularly raptors, but also sunbirds, waxbills and the numerous other species found in the grasslands, riverine scrub and natural forests.
Day 6
This morning depart from the Drakensberg Mountains and travel 2-hours through Ladysmith, which was beseiged during the Boer War, to the town of Dundee.
 
Check into your KNZ Wildlife self-catering camp in Northern Natal.
Day 7
Travel 5-hours today to Ithala Game Reserve in the rugged, mountainous thornveld of northern Zululand.
 
Check into your KNZ Wildlife self-catering camp in this game reserve, that has many diverse habitats and is home to a wide array of wildlife. Ithala is also astonishing geological diverse, havingsome of the oldest rock formations in the world - dating back over 3,000 million years - as well as several Stone Age archaeological sites.
Day 8
Enjoy a full day of self-drive game viewing today in Ithala Game Reserve - a place of great seasonal contrast  with grasslands alive with warthogs in spring, abundant masses of red "Pride of De Kaap" flowers in summer and hundreds of aloes flowering in the winter.
 
Ithala’s big game species include white and black rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard and giraffe. There are are no lion at Ithala, but plains game is plentiful - including zebra, blue wildebeest, impala, oribi, red hartebeest, eland, kudu, waterbuck, tsessebe, common and mountain reedbuck, steenbok and grey duiker. Also spotted  and brown hyena, aardvark, aardwolf, honey badger, pangolin, serval and porcupine.
 
With its many perennial streams and rivers, and the frequent occurrence of cliffs and rock faces, Ithala is also the ideal haven for a large variety of birds including black eagles, martial eagles, crowned eagles, lappet faced and whitebacked vultures, ostriches, blue crane and secretary birds stalking across the veld.
Day 9
From Ithala Game Reserve drive 2-hours through northern Zululand  to Mkuze Game Reserve.
 
Check into your KZN Wildlife self-catering rest camp in this reserve, which is world famous for its birding
Day 10
Today is devoted to self-drive birding and game viewing in Mkuze National Park.
 
The diverse habitats of Mkuze, from the eastern slopes of the Lebombo Mountains to broad stretches of acacia savannah, swamps, woodlands, riverine forests and flat grasslands, are home to over 420 different bird species, making this reserve one of the best birding "hot spots" in the whole of Southern Africa. Fish eagles swoop over the pans, snatching prey spotted from their perches in the fever trees, and there are three hides in the reserve, which will add to your pleasure.
 
The reserve is also home to hippo, crocodile, pinkbacked and white pelicans, as well as a diversity of ducks and geese which gather in spring (September/October). Oher animals found in the reserve include black and white rhino, elephant, giraffe, leopard, buffalo, nyala, blue wildebeest, warthog, impala, kudu and other smaller antelope. Rare species include cheetah, hyaena and suni.
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Day 11
Today drive 1-hour from Mkuze to Hluhluwe National Park in Zululand, renowned for its outstanding wildlife.
 
Check into your KZN Wildlife rest camp, where game viewing opportunities should present themselves almost immediately in this famous game sanctuary. Hopefully you will see several species of antelope, zebra, wildebeest and maybe even giraffe, as well as several of the Big Five, on your self drive safari.
Day 12
Rise at dawn to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day, as you enjoy a thrilling self drive safari in the famous Hluhluwe National Park, which saved the rhino from extinction. One of South Africa’s most beautiful game parks, Hluhluwe is home to all the Big Five - Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhino - as well as the subcontinent’s largest population of endangered rhino. Hope to see many interesting species before returning for breakfast.
    
The rest of the morning is free to relax at camp, before setting out again into Hluhluwe National Park for a full afternoon of game viewing. Hope to see giraffe, hippo, kudu, crocodiles, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons and many other interesting animals. With over 300 different bird species, outstanding bird watching is also guaranteed!
 
After a beautiful African sunset, enjoy the balmy evening and pristine stars of the Milky Way as you have never seen them before – as well as the spectacular Southern Cross.
Day 13
Today drive 30-minutes from Hluhuwe to St Lucia.
  
Here we suggest a boat ride on the Lake St Lucia estuary where you may see hippos and crocodiles. Forming part of the Isimangaliso Wetlands, this area has been declared a World Heritage site because of its unique biodiversity and importance to marine conservation. With over 500 different bird species in the region, it also offers outstanding bird watching.
 
Check in to your self-catering KwaZulu Natal Wildlife rest camp in the St Lucia Wetlands and enjoy the beaches and bird life of the area.
Day 14
At leisure to relax and explore the St Lucia Isimangaliso Wetlands.
 
Optional excursions include deep sea game fishing for marlin, bird watching and (from August to October) an Ocean Safari to view migrating humpback whales, turtles, dolphins and other sea life.
Day 15
Drive 1.5-hours to Richards Bay Airport for your flight home.