Location: 280 km North of Durban Map
Area: 385 sq mi (960 km²)
Wildlife: rhinos, elephants, zebras, giraffes and etc.
When: May- Sept
Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve is a protected area located 280 km
North of Durban in South Africa. It covers an area of 385 sq mi (960
km²). The best time to visit Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve is
between May and September. Some of the most abundant species that
live here include rhinos, elephants, zebras, giraffes and many
others.
The diverse vegetation provides habitat for many
mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The " Big Five ", elephant
, rhino , buffalo , lion and leopard are also present in the park,
as are cheetahs, wild dogs and giraffes and nyalas . Hluhluwe and
Umfolozi were founded in 1895 as separate game reserves, as the
population of these animals was endangered by excessive hunting.
Throughout the park, many artifacts related to Stone Age settlements
have been found. Originally the area was a hunting ground for the Zulu
kingdom, but it was used as a park in 1895. The Umfolozi and Hluhluwe
reserves were initially established to protect the white rhino, then
also the animals on the endangered species list. The area has always
been a refuge for animals as disease-carrying tsetse flies such as the
nagana are widespread, which protected the area from colonial-era
hunters. However, when areas of the Zulu kingdom were colonized by
European farmers, the game was blamed for the presence of tze-tze flies
and the reserves became experimental areas for the eradication of
insects. Farmers began to hunt animals, killing about 100,000 animals in
the reserve, until the arrival of DDT-based pest control treatments in
1945 which solved the problem. In any case, the white rhinos were not
targeted and currently a population of about 1,000 has been maintained.
On April 30, 1995, President Nelson Mandela visited the then Hluhluwe
Game Reserve to celebrate the park's centennial. The Hluhluwe-Imfolozi
park was originally made up of three separate reserves, which were
unified into the current park in 1989.
Territory
The park is
located in the KwaZulu-Natal province on the east coast of South Africa.
It is located near the town of Mtubatuba and the village of Hluhluwe.
The geography of the area is different between the northern part
(Hluhluwe area) and the southern part (Umfolozi area): the north of the
park is more rugged and mountainous, with forests and grasslands, and is
known as the Hluhluwe area. while the Umfolozi area is located to the
south, near the Umfolozi rivers where there is open savannah.
The
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi park is a partially low-risk area for malaria.
Umfolozi
This area is located in the southern part of the park,
between the two Umfolozi rivers, where they divide between the Mfolozi
emnyama (black Umfolozi) to the north and the Mfolozi emhlophe (White
Umfolozi) to the south. The area is generally warm in summer and
temperate in winter, with the occasional cold spell.
Hluhluwe
The orography of the Umfolozi reserve, with an altitude between 80 and
540 meters above sea level, varies from the plains crossed by the
Umfolozi rivers to the steep hills, including some wide and deep
valleys. The habitat in this sector is mainly characterized by
grasslands extending to the savannah and acacia thickets; on the highest
ridges there are forests. The region is well irrigated with shrubs at
the lower levels of the valley.
Flora
The park has a rich
flower community.
Fauna
The park is home to all of Africa's
Big Five: elephant, rhino (black and white), buffalo, lion and leopard.
There are 86 species including: Nile crocodile, hippopotamus, cheetah,
spotted hyena, striped wildebeest, jackal, giraffe, Burchell's zebra,
cobo, nyala, antelope alcina, kudu, impala, blue duiker, suni, redunca
dei reeds, warthog, potamocero, mongoose, black baboon, some species of
turtles, amphibians, snakes and lizards. It is one of the best places in
the world to observe nyala.
The park is also a prime birdwatching
destination, with 340 bird species. The floodplain of the Hluhluwe River
is one of the few areas in all of South Africa where you can see the
long-throated yellow claw, the long-throated claw and the cape claw
together. Also present are the night heron, Wahlberg's eagle, Shelley's
francolin, black-bellied bustard, Temminck's runner, Klaas' golden
cuckoo, lesser bee-eater and crested beard.
White rhinoceros
The park was the first place established for the
conservation of the white rhino, where it was protected to prevent its
extinction (in 1900 there were fewer than 20 rhinos in South Africa,
while today there are over 10,000 scattered around the world, all
descendants of the nucleus originally from Umfolozi). As the site of the
so-called "Operation Rhinoceros" in the early 1960s, the park gained its
worldwide fame for its white rhino conservation activities. Personnel
from the "Rhino Catching Unit" helped save the white rhino from
extinction. Today in the reserve there are more than 1,600 specimens of
white rhinoceros and hundreds of animals, from the 1960s onwards, have
been transferred to reserves and zoo-parks all over the world.
The
success of this program has recently been compromised by the increase in
poaching within the park. This recent threat has not only become a major
concern for the park, but for conservationists across the country.
African wild dog
In 1981, the Natal Park Authority (now called
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) attempted to reintroduce wild dogs to the park:
23 specimens were released into the reserve, many of which were reared
in zoos. However, this project has had little success, as the African
wild dog population has fluctuated between 3 and 30 individuals.