Durban & KwaZulu Natal: Includes the Battlefields Route and uKhahlabamba-Drakensberg Park

by Lizzie Williams

Overview

Spend the day hiking on the extensive network of trails that cover the Drakensberg Mountains or take the more relaxing option and sunbathe on some of Africa’s finest beaches. Experience Zululand – famous for its history and landscapes – and the traditional Zulu lifestyles that are preserved here. No region captures the diversity of South Africa as intensely as KwaZulu Natal. Footprintfocus Durban&KwaZulu Natal will guide you from the bustling port of Durban to the heart of Africa, providing detailed information on sights and attractions along the way.

*Essentials section with tips on getting there and around.

*Detailed coverage of uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park.

*Comprehensive listings of where to eat and sleep, including game lodges.

*Detailed street maps for Durban and other important towns and cities.

Loaded with advice and information, this concise Footprintfocus guide will help you get the most out of Durban&KwaZulu Natal without weighing you down.

The content of the Footprintfocus Durban&KwaZulu Natal guide has been extracted from Footprint’s South Africa Handbook.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781908207128
Publisher:	Bradt Travel Guides Ltd
Publication date:	09/06/2012
Series:	Footprint Focus
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	148
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Originally from London, Lizzie has worked and lived in Africa for 14 years. Starting out on trips across the continent as a tour leader on overland trucks, she has sat with a gorilla, slept amongst elephants, fed a giraffe and swum with a hippo and is now

Read an Excerpt

KwaZulu Natal manages to squash the country’s most diverse

features into a wedge of land between the towering Drakensberg

Mountains and the long sweep of subtropical coastline. Here,

visitors can go on safari, hike through dramatic wilderness, surf the

country’s best beaches and experience South Africa’s strongest

African culture. The mountains in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg

Park soar to over 3000 m, offering the country’s finest hiking on

an extensive network of remote trails. Zululand, rich in history

and evocative landscapes, draws visitors both for its traditional

Zulu lifestyles and the superb game reserves, some of the finest in

South Africa. Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve is the best known

and has become famous for its rhino conservation programme,

which has brought the rhino back from the brink of extinction.

Maputaland, lying to the north of Zululand, is an extraordinary

area of undisturbed African wilderness, with remote game parks

and pristine coastlines, far off the usual tourist trail.

The landscape of the central region, dotted with small industrial

towns and rolling farmland, makes up in history what it lacks in

scenic drama. This area, better known as the Battlefields, still bears

the scars of the Zulu Wars: the Zulu-Boer War, the Anglo-Zulu War

and the Boer War. There are dozens of battlefield sites, but the

most evocative are those at Isandlwana, Rorke’s Drift and Blood

River. KwaZulu Natal’s beaches are some of the most beautiful

in the country. While those around Durban and to the south are

heavily developed, the coastline extending from the north towards

Maputaland is relatively wild, with long empty sweeps of white

sand backed by thick tropical dune forests – an excellent place

for interesting wildlife encounters.