Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park Travel Guide
Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park Travel Guide
Formerly Hluhluwe–Umfolozi Game Reserve, Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa (1895) and, for many, certainly the most scenically beautiful reserve in southern Africa. It's also the only state-run park in KwaZulu-Natal province with the Big 5.
Highlights
- Arguably one of southern Africa's most scenic parks
- Home to Big 5, including black and white rhino
- Africa's oldest established wilderness area
- An area of exceptionally diverse fauna and flora
- Abundant birdlife – over 340 listed species
- First real wilderness trails established here in the 1950s
- Superb conservation efforts prevented extinction of the rhino
Saved the rhino from extinction
Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park is famous for its conservation efforts, notably for saving the rhino from extinction. From less than 20 rhinos left in the world in the early 1900s, Operation Rhino in the 1950s and 1960s was responsible for getting their numbers up to more than 10,000. There are some 1,600 white rhinos in the park today. However, once again, rhino have been under severe threat in recent years, mercilessly poached for their horns which are sought-after in certain Eastern countries for medicinal and aphrodisiac purposes.
Scenic landscape
The park is 960 km² (96,000 ha) and is situated only 280 kilometres (170 miles) north of Durban. It is a low-risk area for malaria. The northern section of the park is more rugged and hilly with forests and grasslands and is known as the Hluhluwe area, while the iMfolozi area is the southern section where you'll find the Black and White iMfolozi Rivers and open grasslands. All this makes for an especially beautiful safari destination.
Abundant, varied wildlife
Besides Africa's Big Five; lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino (both black, hook-lipped and white, square-lipped), Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park has 86 special species including Nile crocodile, hippo, cheetah, spotted hyena, African wild dog, blue wildebeest, jackal, giraffe, zebra, waterbuck, eland, kudu, impala, duiker, suni, reedbuck, warthog, bush pig, mongoose, baboon, vervet monkey and a variety of tortoises, terrapins, snakes and lizards. It's also the park where you're most likely to see the elegant nyala antelope.
Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park is a birder's paradise with over 340 bird species listed. The Hluhluwe River flood plain is one of the only areas in South Africa where you'll have the chance to see all three varieties of longclaw together. Other popular sightings include night heron, Wahlberg's eagle, black-bellied korhaan, Temminck's courser and Klaas' cuckoo.
Getting there
Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park is two and a half hours from Durban by car and an almost six-hour drive from Johannesburg (both of which have international airports.) Road transfers are available. Almost daily (except Tuesday and Sunday) flights connect from OR Tambo International in Johannesburg to Ulindi Airport, a 6 km drive on tarred roads to the park's Cengeni Gate of the iMfolozi section.
Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge
Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge is the first private safari lodge to open in the oldest proclaimed game reserve in Africa: the beautiful and scenic Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Offering the Big 5, this park also offers some of the lesser-known and fascinating wildlife such as nyala antelope, the white and black rhino. This park is world-renowned for its sterling conservation efforts for the rhino which it helped to recover from the brink of extinction.
Hluhluwe River Lodge
Secluded thatched cottages adjacent to iSimangaliso Wetland Park and a 37-minute drive away from Hluhluwe iMfolosi Park.
Phinda Game Reserve
Phinda Private Game Reserve is not far from the well-known iSimangaliso/Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Phinda offers you abundant wildlife, courtesy of its incredibly diverse habitats. There, a handful of private lodges share excellent game sightings in a 23,000-hectare wilderness. Within easy distance of the warm Indian Ocean and its pristine beaches, Phinda makes for an ideal "bush and beach" safari destination.
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Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge, Hluhluwe-iMfolosi Park
Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge is the first private safari lodge to open in the oldest proclaimed game reserve in Africa: the beautiful and scenic Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Offering the Big 5, this park also offers some of the lesser-known and fascinating wildlife such as nyala antelope, the white and black rhino. This park is world-renowned for its sterling conservation efforts for the rhino which it helped to recover from the brink of extinction.
