The Kwa Zulu Natal Issue

Undiscovered Kwa Zulu Natal.

I am so fortunate to travel across the length and breadth of my beautiful country on a regular basis. I find that each time I travel, there is something new to discover.

In December, I returned to my home province of Kwa Zulu Natal for an extensive journey that took my family and I from the Anglo Boer battle fields at Spioenkop to the soaring Drakensberg mountains, laid back Durban, and then north, trailing through the immense iSimangaliso Wetland Park to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and on to uMhuze and the Pongolapoort Dam which is tucked right up against eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland). Our final stop was in tiny Wakkerstroom, in Mpumalanga.

Kwa Zulu Natal is a lesser visited part of South Africa, but it truly has an impressive diversity of scenery, culture and experiences.

Another, rather surprising discovery this holiday, was that I like camping just as much as I like staying in luxury lodges and hotels. Thanks to high and exacting standards, 5 star hotels are universal in their beauty, cleanliness and overall sense of perfection. Whereas campsites are varied in their areas of dysfunction and discomfort. There is a universality present in beauty that is not there in ugliness and dysfunction. I am not suggesting that the campsites we stayed at were ugly. They were in some of the most beautiful and remote settings, such as Lotheni, in the Drakensberg Mountains, pictured above and below. In some places we struggled with electricity or water, badly designed bathrooms, lack of kitchen sink plugs and showers designed for midgets. But camping is so much fun and worth the effort. I love waking up to the sound of birds, and to feel so close to nature and the elements. You just feel more alive!

Leopard has had an incredible start to 2020, for which I am immensely grateful. I hope that 2020 is off to a good start for you too.

Wishing you many happy days of travel and discovery in 2020, and hope to welcome you to South Africa very soon!

Happy travelling!
Diana

P.S. The Leopard team will be in Chicago for the Travel and Adventure Show on the 8-9 February. If you would like FREE tickets, please email us!

P.P.S. To see more photos of the places we visited in KZN click here.

P.P.P.S Did you see our video of Father Christmas’ African reindeers? Catch them here.