We spent 2 nights glamping at Hluhluwe Bush Camp outside the town of Hluhluwe in northern Kwazulu Natal (KZN) while on a 5500 km road trip, over 14 nights through some of the most spectacular parts of South Africa.
Hluhluwe Bush Camp
The property, which is a few kilometres outside the town of Hluhluwe, is owned by Peter de Wit and Trienke Lodewijk, a Dutch couple who’ve been in South Africa for over 20 years. It’s completely off the grid with solar panels, inverters, a generator and borehole water with a treatment plant.
There are five luxury glamping tents overlooking the False Bay Park, one of the 11 World Heritage Isimangaliso Parks, (meaning “Miracle and wonder”). You can see your neighbours, but they’re not on top of one another and it’s completely surrounded by bush and it’s so tranquil.
The next door “glamping village” has got a whole lot of other accommodation options with a couple of traditional campsites with electrical points, various tents and a caravan. The main difference is that your ablutions and your kitchen facilities are separate.
It’s the camping experience without the downside of camping, carting all your gear with you, all your bedding and so on, it’s all here just bring yourself, and your food and drink.
The wi-fi is not so great in the tents but there is free wi-fi at the farm store and the swimming pool area you can also get a drink there and any supplies that you need. And, if you’re looking for a really really awesome sourdough pizza, chat to Noni, she’ll knock one up for you and I can really really highly recommend it, no lies, it really was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.
Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve
On our second morning, after a cup of coffee and a camping style breakfast we headed off to explore the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa, which is about 30 minutes away from the camp. It’s like a totally different world, not as well known as its more famous cousins like the Kruger and the Kgalagadi, but it should be.
It’s a big five game reserve with some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable, and while we didn’t see any predators or elephants, they are there. The reserve is a rhino success story, since 1961 over 3500 white rhino have been relocated to other game reserves.
The park was originally two different game reserves, the Hluhluwe and the Imfolozi, but in 1989 they were joined together and now it’s a 96 000 hectare reserve. There are several accommodation options, from camping to rest camps to well-appointed game lodges run by the KZN Parks Board. There are a couple of entry gates, we entered and departed from Memorial Gate in the north and unfortunately time was limited so we didn’t spend as much time as we would have liked to, next time though.
Zamimphilo Craft Village
From the game reserve we headed through rural KZN to the Zamimphilo Craft Village. It’s quite large, and there’s such a wide range of stuff to see, it’s on the N2, a few kilometres south of Hluhluwe, I really do recommend it.
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