KwaZulu Natal Activities while based at the Antbear Guesthouse

Accommodation special offer and KwaZulu Natal activities

MIDLANDS

Boston, Greytown, Himeville, Howick, Ixopo, Kokstad, Kranskop, Matatiele, Mooirivier, Pietermaritzburg, Richmond, Underberg, Wartburg.

The Midlands area is one suffused with history and adorned with a sense of nature almost arrogantly displaying its beauty. Stretching from the slopes of the Southern Drakensberg Range in the west to the rolling grasslands around the provincial capital Pietermaritzburg in the east, the area covers towns whose names speak of the romance of the uncertain future but stubborn determination of settlers from Africa and the world.

The highly successful Midlands Meander today takes visitors through the charming series of towns and villages from Mooirivier to Hilton. In 1985, local artists, potters and weavers combined to create an arts & crafts route. The route stretches north from Hilton to Mooirivier and from the Dargle Valley in the west of Rietvlei in the east. It boasts no fewer than one hundred stops ranging from art studios, country hotels, herb and flower farms to cheese markets, famous schools, tea gardens and craft, pottery and weaving workshops.

The area also offers bird watching, health hydros, well-stocked rivers and lakes for trout fishing, golf courses, nature trails, mountain biking, horse trails and water sports.

Essentially of grassland and indigenous yellowwood forests and enjoying a sunny, moist climate, the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands will charm the most cynical of visitors and will enthrall anyone with the sense to visit its tranquil yet invigorating destinations. The heart of the old country beats proudly in the majesty of the Midlands.

uTHUKELA

Bergville, Colenso, Dannhauser, Dundee, Estcourt, Glencoe, Ladysmith, Newcastle, Pomeroy, Utrecht, Weenen, Winterton.

European settlers at what is today the city of Durban moved inland in the middle part of the last century, and found the unconquerable hurdle of the Drakensburg Mountains. Already called 'Quathlamba' or 'barrier of spears' by the Amazulu who had encountered and revered it, the settlers met the mountains with a similar awe and disheartenment. The meeting of these cultures in the magnificent Tugela River Valley north of the Drakensberg Range resulted in skirmishes, battles and wars, conquests of land, internecine conflicts, declarations of resistance, the strained sinews of muscular military might.

Today, the Natal Battlefields Route takes visitors through this land of wagon laagers, of Zulu cultural villages, of British blockhouses, where the rolling grasslands of the area, a smooth countryside upset here and there by koppies (hillocks), stir the imagination as a silent counterpoint to the resonating din of battle. Each town along the route, from Ladysmith to Colenso to Estcourt, has its own unique story to tell, as does each stretch of land, each river, each koppie, each memorial site.

In the south, the uThukela region is about the beauty of a mountain range and towns set up in its foothills. A series of world-class resorts has been set up around the Drakensberg, offering some of the county's most pristine and magnificent mountain scenery and a host of activities for the lover of nature's variety. The north is about the beauty of grassy hills and deeply flowing riverine systems. Between the two flows the Tugela River as ever, surging towards the Indian Ocean and providing nourishment to a land, life to a people.

The Drakensberg Range is a massive succession of dramatic peaks, rising to the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho and plunging from South Africa's plateau (highveld) across the Great Escarpment and down to the rolling countryside of the Midlands and beyond. The Natal Drakensberg Park covers of 240 000 ha of grasslands, rivers, waterfalls, and sandstone buttresses from the frequently snow-capped Giant's Castle peak in the north to the village of Bushman's Nek in the south, and gives sanctity to many plant, animal and bird species.

Stretching across the western part of the midlands, caressing the eastern border of Lesotho, the park is one of the country's premier eco-tourism destinations, with fishing, mountain biking and rock climbing among the most common activities of its visitors, while those inclined to bird watching, swimming, horse riding, hiking, photography and painting will find more than their fair share of entertainment. For a more historical approach, caves and rock shelters are adorned with San Artwork and are well worth a visit.

ZULULAND

Babanango, Empangeni, Eshowe, Hluhluwe, Louwsburg, Melmoth, Mkuze, Mtubatuba, Mtunzini, Nongoma, Paulpietersburg, Pongola, Richards Bay, St Lucia, Ulundi, Vryheid.

Any visitor to the inland area of KwaZulu-Natal will not help but sense the ethereal atmosphere of this misty, magical place. The land here is a deity, worshipped by those who call it home and respected by those who enter its realm. And this is not surprising, for it is home to the people of heaven.

In its expanse, Zululand covers many different terrains, from the valley bushveld of the west and northwest, to the lush, emerald hills of the central lands covered in sugar cane plantations, circumjacent furrows seemingly combed by a furtive, friendly giant.

To the east, the wetlands, swamps, mangroves and estuarine systems of St Lucia, Sodwana Bay and Kosi Bay make up the Maputaland Region, an area where the slow recession of the Indian Ocean has produced a water world of cosmic beauty. Untouched and splendid, days are spent drifting along freshwater lakes or trudging through dune vegetation. Nights are spent quietly gazing upward, contemplating the stars and the celestial symmetry of light bouncing off the gently flowing waters.

The two sides of the region do not differ only in vegetation and climate; these were also the theatre for the natural drama of the meeting of European and African cultures. Once the place of battles and conquests, it is now one of memorials to sadder, wilder times and one of a co-existence of many cultures. This may be Zululand, but not only the Zulu enjoy its blessings.

HOLIDAY COAST

Amanzimtoti, Ballito, Durban, Harding, Hibberdene, Margate, Pennington, Port Edward, Port Shepstone, Scottburgh, Stanger, Tongaat, Umhlanga, Umkomaas, Verulam.

KwaZulu-Natal's coastline stretches from the Tugela River north of Durban to the resort town of Port Edward on the KwaZulu-Natal/Eastern Cape border. Durban is the country's third-largest city and Africa's principal seaport. Anything south of this is the south coast, and the area from Scottburgh to Port Edward is called the Hibiscus Coast and includes the dynamic holiday town of Margate. This and many other towns on this route can be reached via a modern freeway, with Margate a pleasant hour's drive from Durban.

Train trips to and from Durban introduce visitors to these names, billboards on stations that will become part of an unforgettable experience in the core of a stretch of land devoted to the tourist. This is holiday country, and the spirit of relaxation can be felt, the warmth of a people recalled, the beauty of a countryside loved and the names of the places, appropriate in their uniqueness.

Accommodation special offer and KwaZulu Natal activities