On the western edge of Kwazulu Natal, the Drakensberg is a land of jagged peaks, rocks and cliffs towering high above lush rolling valleys. The Zulus who inhabit the area call it the ‘barrier of spears’ and that is exactly what it looks like, stretching into the tiny kingdom of Lesotho over the border.
At the heart of the range, the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park covers 243 000 ha. It was declared a World Heritage site in 2000 for its natural and cultural wonders which include ancient rock art.
Myriad trails invite nature lovers to discover the Ukhahlamba’s rich fauna and flora and some of the most dramatic sites. Buttressed peaks soar to 3000 metres and above and there are rivers, waterfalls, gorges and forests. Elands, baboons, wildebeest and others can be spotted on the lower slopes and high above, rare bearded vultures, just one of the park’s 300 bird species.
The Drakensberg northern reaches are ideal for adrenalin junkees and hikers who come to see the Amphitheatre and its 3000 metre high rock wall. From Giant’s Castle to Cathedral Peak, the central range offers challenging hikes but also scenic strolls, trout fishing, bird watching and horse riding. The southern Drakensberg is the place to see rare oribi antelopes, masses of summer flowers and take a 4x4 up the breathtaking road to the Sani Pass.
The San lived in the Drakensberg for thousands of years until displaced in the mid-19th century by Zulus and later, Europeans. Endowed with spiritual powers by the shamans, their rock paintings depicted scenes of daily life hunting, fighting, and include men and animals, especially elands. Pretoria's Transvaal Museum displays some fine exhibits.
In the Drakensberg, the richest rock art areas include the Ndedema Gorge, Giant’s Castle with its Cave Museum and the Cathedral Peak Wilderness which claims 130 sites, totalling over 8000 paintings. Visits must be arranged in advance. A good place to begin is the new Kamberg Rock Art interpretation centre. The centre is also the start of a three hour guided walk to the Games Pass Shelter, offering the chance to learn about San culture, meet today’s descendants and view outstanding rock art.
The Cathedral Peak hotel is a stylish eco-friendly venue set in a pristine valley with great views. Rooms range from presidential, honeymoon and deluxe suites with private veranda and garden to open plan thatched rooms for up to four guests. Facilities include restaurant, heated outdoor pool, golf, chapel and Vitality Centre for massage and other rituals.
The Drakensberg Gardens Hotel is set in the southern foothills. Rooms come in three categories, standard, superior and deluxe and guests can enjoy a range of dining options. The Wellness Centre has a gym, steam room, saunas and therapy pool. There’s a golf course and a mini farmyard for children.
Many tourism destinations in this province offer a complete package that range from eco tourism and adventure tourism right through to cultural tourism, like the Drakensberg Mountain region.
The Drakensberg or uKhahlamba (the Barrier of Spears) is a 200-kilometer-long mountainous wonderland and a World Heritage Site.
The Zulu people named it 'uKhahlamba' and the Dutch Voortrekkers "The Dragon Mountain" (Drakensberg). Besides wonderful climbing and hiking routes, tens of thousands of paintings depicting the daily life of the San people can be found on the rock faces and in caves.
The KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg area can be divided into Bergville and the Northern Drakensberg; Winterton and the Central Drakensberg; Himeville, Underberg and the Southern Drakensberg and East Griqualand and UMzimkhulu.
The legacy of the Zulu Kingdom's, blood-soaked conflicts today live peacefully reconciled in this region's Battlefield sites with names like, Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift and Spioenkop as well as in the historic towns and villages called Ladysmith, Dundee and Colenso and the many national monuments and museums in the region.
The Battlefields are a very popular history tourism destination, especially with Anglo Boer War and Zulu War buffs as visitors can walk in the footsteps of famous military strategists – King Shaka, Winston Churchill, and General Louis Botha. (And Mahatma Gandhi, who commanded a Red Cross Unit for the British Army during the Boer War).
The Elephant Coast of KwaZulu-Natal is a patchwork of wetlands, freshwater lakes, wilderness livestock and scattered Zulu villages that greet the Indian Ocean on a virtually seamless stretch of white sand.
This whole area is dotted with private and public game parks. All the public game parks and wilderness areas fall under the auspices of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife.
St Lucia is an enclave within the World Heritage Site of Isimangaliso and presents the entire range of accommodation options - from back-packer to ultra- luxury - and while the approach from Mtubatuba is breathtaking, nothing compares to views of the surrounding magic from the village itself and the best diving and eco tourism in the country.
While on the Elephant Coast, visitors cannot miss:
Cape Vidal
Kosi Bay,
Sodwana,
The Dukuduku Forest near St Lucia and
Hluhluwe, iMfolozi and Mkuze Game Parks
Shakaland – Traditional Zulu Experience
Zululand history, King Shaka, Ulundi, Eshowe and Richards Bay are some of the terms associated with this region of Zululand. Visitors wanting to enjoy the traditional Zulu experience can take an ox wagon to Zulu villages of beehive huts and get a real understanding of traditional Zulu hospitality. Maybe even visit a sangoma (traditional healer).
Even for those who are not Battlefield aficionados, a traditional Zulu experience is not complete without a visit to Ulundi, the site of the final battle fought in the Anglo-Zulu war.
Shakaland, 14 km north of Eshowe off the N68, is a one-stop Zulu-experience “theme park.” Built in 1984 as the set for the TV series Shaka Zulu. Visitors can stay overnight, watch Zulu dancing, and immerse themselves in Zulu culture.
The best place to kick off a vacation in KwaZulu-Natal, in order to see all these popular tourist attractions, is in the cosmopolitan and buzzing holiday city of Durban, the third largest city in South Africa – less than an hour by plane from Johannesburg.
At the heart of the range, the Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park covers 243 000 ha. It was declared a World Heritage site in 2000 for its natural and cultural wonders which include ancient rock art.
Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park, Top Things to Do
Myriad trails invite nature lovers to discover the Ukhahlamba’s rich fauna and flora and some of the most dramatic sites. Buttressed peaks soar to 3000 metres and above and there are rivers, waterfalls, gorges and forests. Elands, baboons, wildebeest and others can be spotted on the lower slopes and high above, rare bearded vultures, just one of the park’s 300 bird species.
The Drakensberg northern reaches are ideal for adrenalin junkees and hikers who come to see the Amphitheatre and its 3000 metre high rock wall. From Giant’s Castle to Cathedral Peak, the central range offers challenging hikes but also scenic strolls, trout fishing, bird watching and horse riding. The southern Drakensberg is the place to see rare oribi antelopes, masses of summer flowers and take a 4x4 up the breathtaking road to the Sani Pass.
Rock Art in Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa
The San lived in the Drakensberg for thousands of years until displaced in the mid-19th century by Zulus and later, Europeans. Endowed with spiritual powers by the shamans, their rock paintings depicted scenes of daily life hunting, fighting, and include men and animals, especially elands. Pretoria's Transvaal Museum displays some fine exhibits.
In the Drakensberg, the richest rock art areas include the Ndedema Gorge, Giant’s Castle with its Cave Museum and the Cathedral Peak Wilderness which claims 130 sites, totalling over 8000 paintings. Visits must be arranged in advance. A good place to begin is the new Kamberg Rock Art interpretation centre. The centre is also the start of a three hour guided walk to the Games Pass Shelter, offering the chance to learn about San culture, meet today’s descendants and view outstanding rock art.
Accommodation in Drakensberg, Cathedral Peak and Drakensberg Gardens Resort
The Cathedral Peak hotel is a stylish eco-friendly venue set in a pristine valley with great views. Rooms range from presidential, honeymoon and deluxe suites with private veranda and garden to open plan thatched rooms for up to four guests. Facilities include restaurant, heated outdoor pool, golf, chapel and Vitality Centre for massage and other rituals.
The Drakensberg Gardens Hotel is set in the southern foothills. Rooms come in three categories, standard, superior and deluxe and guests can enjoy a range of dining options. The Wellness Centre has a gym, steam room, saunas and therapy pool. There’s a golf course and a mini farmyard for children.
Popular Tourist Attractions in KwaZulu Natal
Many tourism destinations in this province offer a complete package that range from eco tourism and adventure tourism right through to cultural tourism, like the Drakensberg Mountain region.
Drakensberg – Eco, Adventure, and Cultural Tourism
The Drakensberg or uKhahlamba (the Barrier of Spears) is a 200-kilometer-long mountainous wonderland and a World Heritage Site.
The Zulu people named it 'uKhahlamba' and the Dutch Voortrekkers "The Dragon Mountain" (Drakensberg). Besides wonderful climbing and hiking routes, tens of thousands of paintings depicting the daily life of the San people can be found on the rock faces and in caves.
The KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg area can be divided into Bergville and the Northern Drakensberg; Winterton and the Central Drakensberg; Himeville, Underberg and the Southern Drakensberg and East Griqualand and UMzimkhulu.
History Tourism – the Battlefields
The legacy of the Zulu Kingdom's, blood-soaked conflicts today live peacefully reconciled in this region's Battlefield sites with names like, Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift and Spioenkop as well as in the historic towns and villages called Ladysmith, Dundee and Colenso and the many national monuments and museums in the region.
The Battlefields are a very popular history tourism destination, especially with Anglo Boer War and Zulu War buffs as visitors can walk in the footsteps of famous military strategists – King Shaka, Winston Churchill, and General Louis Botha. (And Mahatma Gandhi, who commanded a Red Cross Unit for the British Army during the Boer War).
Eco Tourism along the Elephant Coast
The Elephant Coast of KwaZulu-Natal is a patchwork of wetlands, freshwater lakes, wilderness livestock and scattered Zulu villages that greet the Indian Ocean on a virtually seamless stretch of white sand.
This whole area is dotted with private and public game parks. All the public game parks and wilderness areas fall under the auspices of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife.
St Lucia Wetlands - World Heritage Site and Prime Eco Tourism
St Lucia is an enclave within the World Heritage Site of Isimangaliso and presents the entire range of accommodation options - from back-packer to ultra- luxury - and while the approach from Mtubatuba is breathtaking, nothing compares to views of the surrounding magic from the village itself and the best diving and eco tourism in the country.
While on the Elephant Coast, visitors cannot miss:
Cape Vidal
Kosi Bay,
Sodwana,
The Dukuduku Forest near St Lucia and
Hluhluwe, iMfolozi and Mkuze Game Parks
Shakaland – Traditional Zulu Experience
Zululand history, King Shaka, Ulundi, Eshowe and Richards Bay are some of the terms associated with this region of Zululand. Visitors wanting to enjoy the traditional Zulu experience can take an ox wagon to Zulu villages of beehive huts and get a real understanding of traditional Zulu hospitality. Maybe even visit a sangoma (traditional healer).
Even for those who are not Battlefield aficionados, a traditional Zulu experience is not complete without a visit to Ulundi, the site of the final battle fought in the Anglo-Zulu war.
Shakaland, 14 km north of Eshowe off the N68, is a one-stop Zulu-experience “theme park.” Built in 1984 as the set for the TV series Shaka Zulu. Visitors can stay overnight, watch Zulu dancing, and immerse themselves in Zulu culture.
Kick off a KwaZulu-Natal Vacation in Durban
The best place to kick off a vacation in KwaZulu-Natal, in order to see all these popular tourist attractions, is in the cosmopolitan and buzzing holiday city of Durban, the third largest city in South Africa – less than an hour by plane from Johannesburg.
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