KwaZulu-Natal and Zululand.

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi is the province's principal reserve and one of the oldest in Africa, best known for its part in bringing the white rhino back from near-extinction. iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a World Heritage Site, runs up the coast from St Lucia and holds a quite different set of habitats — estuary, wetland and dune forest.

Inland, the Drakensberg escarpment is walking and riding country rather than game country, and the battlefields around Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift draw a specific and well-informed kind of visitor.

What is here

• Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park
• iSimangaliso Wetland Park
• The Drakensberg
• Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift
• Thanda and Phinda private reserves

Journeys through South Africa

• A taste of culture →
• Namaqualand flowers →

Elsewhere in South Africa

• Greater Kruger and the LowveldThe Greater Kruger is South Africa's principal safari region: the national park itself plus a belt of private reserves sharing unfenced boundaries with it.
• Cape Town and the Cape PeninsulaCape Town is the city most itineraries are anchored to, and the Peninsula gives it a coastline, a mountain and a wine region within an hour of the centre.
• The Cape WinelandsStellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl form the classic winelands triangle, about an hour inland from Cape Town.
• The Garden RouteThe Garden Route runs roughly from Mossel Bay to Storms River along the southern coast, and is the country's classic self-drive stretch.
• The Eastern CapeThe Eastern Cape's private reserves are malaria-free and sit within reach of the Garden Route, which is why they so often close a family itinerary.