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Wildlife of South Africa
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| While most people have heard of the Kruger National Park, with its incredible array of animals, what most people don't know is that the KwaZulu Natal province hosts a greater density of wildlife than any other area in South Africa. |
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Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Reserve,
South Africa
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| The sheer beauty of the landscape would alone justify conservation of the area of the Hluhluwe and Umfolozi game reserves. Added to this is a wealth of plant and animal life, and an atmosphere so pervaded by romance that it seems to be distilled from Zululand's ancient past. Both were proclaimed game reserves in 1897. Dense bush chokes up the river valleys, while patches of high forest and open grass grow on the hill slopes. Hluhluwe contains elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion, leopard, nyala, zebra, blue wildebeest, kudu, impala, bushbuck, waterbuck, giraffe, warthog, bushpig, baboon, cheetah, hippopotamus, crocodile, and a host of birdlife. These reserves have also been instrumental in the rehabilitation of the white rhino population through successful breeding programs. |
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Lake St. Lucia,
South Africa
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| About 60 million years ago the sea receded and what was part of its bed emerged - as the sandy coastal terrace of Zululand covered with marine shells and shallow depressions which filled up with sea and fresh water to form lagoons, lakes, and estuary systems. The lake and its verges (55,000 hectares) have been proclaimed a world heritage site. Bird life is prolific. There are flamingos, pelicans, herons, saddlebills, spoonbills, white belly cormorants, jacanas, avocets, Caspian terns, green coucals, Knysna loeries, pink-throated long claws, and many other species. Numerous big game fish and sharks prowl the estuary. Crocodiles feed on the smaller fish and in turn are themselves eaten by sharks. About 400 hippos graze the reeds while on the verges of the lake, nyala, bushbuck, reedbuck, gray, red and blue duiker, sunie and steenbok are found. Bushpigs live in the thickets. |
| To the north lies Tongaland where the vegetation resembles a collection of tropical plants seen in the hothouses of botanical gardens. More than 175 different species of trees grow here, many of them gigantic. The rivers tunnel beneath these trees and there are long stretches where the sunlight barely penetrates through the roof of leaves to the water. |
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Nearer the coast, the forest thins and palms replace the trees. Lala palms grow in vast numbers providing so generous a supply of free alcohol that many men, and a few indigenous animals have seldom, if ever, known what it is to be sober. They are born drunk from alcohol in their mother’s blood, and die drunk. In order to remain in this state, all they need to do is cut a groove into the stem of a Lala palm, fix a leaf into the groove to act as a spout, and tie a calabash to the trunk in such a way that the sap will drip from the leaf into the container. Fresh, the sap is a delicious soft drink; when 24 hours old it has fermented into a powerful alcoholic drink. In this warm environment of water, trees, alcoholic palms, fish, elephants, and numerous other game animals, the Tembe and Mabudu people lead cheerful and reasonably carefree lives
in South Africa. |
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