Photo Safari through Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (Part 1)

Moving along to the latter half of our winter holidays in the bush brings us to another of Africa’s oldest conservation areas (and another of our favourite wild places) – the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park.

This conservation area covers an enormous 960km² of beautifully unspoilt wilderness, and incorporates the Hluhluwe and Umfolozi Game Reserves that were officially proclaimed in 1895.

View of Hluhluwe Game Reserve along the Isivivaneni road

Waterhole at Mphafa Hide

Umfolozi sunset

Umfolozi sunrise

View from Sontuli Picnic Site

A view over the hills of the Hluhluwe section

The sun sitting low on the Umfolozi horizon

We spent four nights in the Park – 3 in cottage #17 at wonderfully wild Mpila and the last in chalet #42 at the Park’s flagship tourist facility; Hilltop.

Mpila #17, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, July 2017

Hilltop #42, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, July 2017

Of course no visit to a Game Reserve would be complete without plentiful encounters with wild creatures, so let’s get started with a few small critters we came across (more to follow in the next two days).

Caterpillar or moth eggs on a twig at Sontuli

Leopard Tortoise hatchling, just a little bigger than a match box

Rainbow Skink

Marsh Terrapins

Being one of our favourite destinations, we’ve featured Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park many times on our blog – have a look through all our posts about this special wilderness if you’d like to learn more about it.

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15 thoughts on “Photo Safari through Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (Part 1)”

Ellen August 2, 2017 at 4:21 pm

We will be taking a road trip through the elephant coast (Hluhluwe Imfolozi, Eastern/Western shores, kosi bay/mouth, tembe, etc.) mid september so I am devouring your website as we speak to get some ideas! It is wonderfully informative, a big thank you from us planners 🙂 Could you give me a bit of insight into the drought situation at the moment? Has it gotten a bit better for the area? From what I’ve read this area has been suffering the most from the continued drought.

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de Wets Wild Post authorAugust 3, 2017 at 3:27 am

Wonderful to hear that you found our blog so useful for your planning, Ellen!
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and Lake St. Lucia is certainly looking a lot better as far as the drought is concerned than this time last year or two years ago. The Hluhluwe and two Umfolozi Rivers were still flowing, albeit very low, when we visited mid-July, and all over HIP and iSimangaliso many of the pans and waterholes still held water, even this far into winter. The recovery in the vegetation was remarkable to see, and the animals are in fantastic condition.

You will surely have a wonderful time in September!

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