In the heart of the Elephant Coast for a ‘Big 5’ Safari

The town of Hluhluwe is your typical African town, a little unkempt, with music playing and street-sellers, all mixed in with the necessary supermarket, shop de cops, servo, school and accommodation, etc.

Hluhluwe is ideally located 3 hrs driving north of Durban in the middle of two areas called the Elephant Coast & Zululand, the town being part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. There are three major drawcards nearby:

** The Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park

** The Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve

** The Phinda Reserve

The Mole is stopping today at the Hluhluwe Hotel on the edge of town. This particular hotel has a number of advantages. He knows this cos he saw a lady with a clipboard and guessed rightly that she was a tour leader who brings groups regularly.

Something the Mole had not yet realised, but is so very true, a lot of the better accommodation is not close enough to any towns that have supermarkets et al to procure the basic necessities for people on tour.  So the Hluhluwe Hotel is often on the selection list for tour groups, particularly for those who do not want a ‘real bush’ experience.

The added benefit for tour groups is that because the Hotel has its own game drive operation, visitors can simply jump in a game drive vehicle at the hotel and 15 mins later they are entering KwaZulu-Natal’s premier Big 5 reserve, the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve.

The General Manager of the Hluhluwe Hotel, Brad du Toit proudly stands behind the team motto of “Hospitality is Our Game” (As you know, the Mole just lurves those puns!) and when asked how he could best sum up Hluhluwe Hotel & Safaris, he responded from the heart, with just five words “Five Star people and service).

Exploring this a little further with Brad, a familiar story emerged – ye olde urban vs rural outlook on life!  It is certainly noticeable that all the staff at the hotel appear to be just that much closer to their cultural roots, and have a more sort of openness than their urban colleagues.

Two things about the hotel that the Mole loved, a marvellously comfortable bed in a large room (all rooms are similar) and the… er, toast! OK I know what I am going to say next may make you think that the Mole is in fact a character more suited to a Monty Python movie (and I will gladly accept all comments then made on said character), but…

The Mole enjoys his toast for brekky, however in a number of places (more the larger hotels), the toast is pre-cooked and lined up like soldiers in a hot tray or kept in a basket with a towel over ‘em and dispensed by the waiting staff.  The latter is OK, except if you arrive at the back end of brekky – then you risk soggy tepid stuff being flopped on to your plate.

‘Cook your own’ always appeals to me, not only because I end up with hot toast, but because I am able to plan an almost military style exercise to ensure that the hot breakfast is perfection itself! Sad eh? The eggs are requested first, then at a pre-determined point, the toast goes in, then the plate is filled with goodies like bacon, mushies, tomatos & at least one untried item (wrapped chicken livers yesterday), then the eggs go on the plate and I arrive just in time for two perfectly cooked slices of toast – BING!

The Mole then saunters back to his table accepting the imagined accolades for planning such a perfect brekky campaign….  What can I say but, mission accomplished at the Hluhluwe Hotel!

Personally, I am not a hotel assessment guru, but overall I have to say it is a value for money sort of place that offers a good comfortable experience for travellers. Hluhluwe Hotel does not pretend to be a swish, upmarket, pampering palace of hot stone therapies and exotic and arty rooms, though there is a lot of African art about the place. Not having a power adapter wall plate in the bathroom was a little frustrating, but there is a high standard throughout, along with a real African atmosphere.

Brad is right on the money when he says it is the little things that make the difference.  The rooms are more than fine, there is always a basket of goodies for arriving guests – and a welcoming bottle of wine (which can be exchanged for something else!).  The food was excellent, again with those small extra touches.

Lunch by the pool had the Mole all warm and fuzzy in no time.  But there was to be no resting of paws, it was off for a game drive into Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve with Vincent, one of the safari game drivers with the hotel.  We set off with a chuckle, when he turned around to everyone and said “Lets go hunting!”

Two things stay in my mind regarding the drive to the entrance gates of the park. The area around Hluhluwe is prime pineapple country:

Firstly, a buyer from the US was in our group who said that he came here to buy ultra-fresh good quality pineapples, which are then flown directly to the US market. As he said this, a huge OH&S issue came out of one of the pineapple fields.

A truck was pulling a huge metal bin that must be used to collect the pineapples that are picked. But instead of pineapples, there were it seemed about 60 people (most likely more!) packed in like sardines all waving at us – safari truck of western tourists passes pineapple truck of African workers, some stark symbolism there, particularly as one of the tourists would be a major factor in the pineapple pricing & the African wages!

Secondly, we passed a number of farms and houses, with rondavels (a modernised form of the Zulu hut) spotted in and around them.  The overall impression might lead you to worry about the quality of life that they have to lead etc, as the Elephant Coast is one of the poorest regions in South Africa.

The populace is predominantly Zulu speaking. The area desperately needs economic growth, particularly to fight poverty and the AIDS epidemic.  Whilst agriculture (in the form of Queen Pineapples) is helping, tourism is also vital to development, hopefully the sustainable sort!

Just as we were pondering our environment, a school bus pulled up and lots of happy & shouting schoolkids began piling off on their way home. Many were dressed in full school uniform – shirt, tie the lot, carrying bulging bags like their counterparts around the world.  The atmosphere changed perceptibly in the vehicle as this appeared a positive and healthy sign of improvement, at least in this particular spot.

Then it was into the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve.  This reserve is where the white rhino was saved from extinction.  It is one of Africa’s oldest reserves, having been established in 1895. Hluhluwe was a hunting ground for the Zulu kings and today it is the only park under ‘formal conservation’ in KwaZulu-Natal where you can find the ‘Big 5’ – this means you can see lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard.

The Mole did wonder what the guidelines were for classification as the first thing we came across was a group of Giraffes, and they were ‘big’.  But no, not ‘big’ enough to be in the Big 5, so obviously game viewing is actually something where size doesn’t matter…

However, this theory is immediately put to the test as there are some places that boast a ‘Big 6’ by including a ….whale (ie whale watching!). Even heard of a ‘Big 7’. Perhaps The Mole needs to introduce the concept of “The Big Banana, The Big Pineapple and The Big Merino!”

We also knocked off (I mean viewed!) some rhino, some impala, an elephant (in the distance, they are mostly in another area of the park, which is 96,000 ha) and some buffalo.  Unfortunately no sightings of lion or leopard – as is usual, our guide Vincent said “You should have been here yesterday…!!” 

We did see a rhino though below, and this is as close as you want to be!

Finally, we headed back to the hotel, and it was time for a hot shower, and an excellent buffet dinner. I have to say that it is probably better to have a guide rather than DIY when it comes to viewing game. Vincent spotted all sorts of things for us while the 4×4 crowd whizzed by – somehow one that passed us missed the one elephant we saw and were stopped up ahead peering up a hill to watch distant giraffes.  The Mole had to restrain himself from saying “Nyah nyah – we saw an elephant and a rhino!!”

Report by The Mole on location in South Africa