Justin’s South Africa holiday adventure

I love the city of Cape Town and I know I’m not alone. I have stayed there on all four of my South Africa holidays. It’s addictive! That is why it can be easy to overlook areas of South Africa outside of the Cape and away from the Garden Route.

On a recent South Africa holiday I had the opportunity to explore the diversity, the beauty, the culture and some of the history of KwaZulu-Natal. My wife and I had already spent a week driving from Johannesburg to the Blyde River Canyon and visited the Kruger National Park, down through Swaziland, then in to KwaZulu-Natal.

Our first port of call was to the principal battlefield sites of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, the settings of popular Christmas movie repeats ‘Zulu Dawn’ and ‘Zulu’. As local guides relate, with accuracy, the events of those days in 1879 on the site of the battles themselves, you cannot fail to feel the emotion that seems to run through the place. In Isandlwana, white cairns mark the spot that British soldiers fell in their fighting with the Zulu warriors, and in Rorke’s Drift the museum and surroundings on the actual site give a clear indication of the final hours that elapsed and resulted in a record eleven Victoria Crosses being awarded.

We also visited the site of the Battle of Blood River, where the Boers had overcome the Zulus some 41 years earlier in 1838 by means of a 64 wagon encampment, which has been re-created on the site today. You might assume that the majority of visitors to these sites were graduate historians or those with a military background, but there is a wider appeal to anyone wanting to learn a little about South Africa’s historic battles in a beautiful yet emotive landscape.

Apart from learning the history, which changed the future of South Africa’s development as a nation, the Battlefields landscape is one of natural beauty and definitely merits a visit during a South Africa holiday. Whilst the roads between the sites are mainly gravel tracks, our hire car was up to the challenge. Our stays at both Isandlwana Lodge and Rorke’s Drift Hotel were comfortable and the welcome was very friendly. We were able to compare thoughts of the day’s activities with other guests at dinner.

We headed east towards the coast via the Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve, the combination of two separate reserves. Having made use of driver guides in Kruger, we opted to do our own game drive on the main roads with careful negotiation of the potholes. There were not many vehicles here and it was great to see such a variety of animals so close to the road, including a family of white rhinos lazing under a tree.

Our next destination was South Africa’s first World Heritage Site – the Isimangaliso Wetlands – here we spent a wonderful afternoon on a St Lucia river cruise – spotting the local birdlife, crocodiles and large numbers of hippos.

After two weeks on the road, our visit to KwaZulu-Natal was coming to a close, so a little rest was called for at the Oyster Box Hotel, in Umhlanga, just to the north of Durban, where the curry buffet dinner was every bit as good as the recommendations we had received. Before long, we were heading southwest (by air this time!) – for a few days in Cape Town, of course!

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Somak Holidays specialise in South Africa holidays and can help you create an itinerary that suits your budgets and interests.

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