Rhino River Lodge

South Africa Safari Explorer

South Africa's wildlife at its best.

14 days

Safari Wildlife & Nature

from £5,850 pp

The Best of South Africa

Romantic Classic + 3 more + 3 more

Cape Town, wine & wildlife: South Africa's highlights over 11 days.

11 days

from £3,225 pp

Family Classic + 3 more + 3 more

City, Safari & Beach

South Africa, Mauritius

South Africa’s culture, safari and beaches rounding off with an indulgent island escape.

15 days

from £5,010 pp

South African Grand Tour

Safari Wildlife & Nature + 3 more + 3 more

Three weeks, one unforgettable road trip across South Africa’s greatest highlights.

21 days

from £4,295 pp

Unexplored South Africa

Wildlife & Nature Luxury + 2 more + 3 more

Leave the tourist trail behind and experience a different South Africa.

14 days

from £9,350 pp

South Africa Family Holiday

Family Safari + 1 more + 2 more

The ultimate family adventure through South Africa's highlights.

15 days

from £3,495 pp

Quirky excursions

View all excursions in South Africa

Coastal visits

The remarkable KwaZulu-Natal coastline in and around Lake St Lucia is within easy striking distance of the game areas of the province. As well as being attractive, and boasting quiet rock pools amidst the surf for swimming and snorkelling, this is also an area replete with wildlife. Offshore are whales, sharks and dolphins, whilst Lake St Lucia is home to crocodiles and hippos. In the bush that backs onto the shores, you’ll find small antelope and monkeys, and the air teems with birdlife. Most private lodges can arrange a visit to the coastline, or if you’re staying at Hluhluwe–iMfolozi, you can drive yourself over to the area for the day.

KwaZulu-Natal Bush Walks

Most lodges in private game reserves, in the period around lunchtime between the two usual daily safari drives, offer guests the chance to go on a short safari walk. The focus on these is not the game you’d see on drive. Instead you’ll concentrate on learning about the trees and plants, including their various uses in bush medicine and bush craft. You’ll also have the chance to look at the much, much smaller animals like spiders and millipedes, no less worthy of your attention than the bigger animals in the reserve! Some of the private reserves offer a more intensive walking safari experience, where you’ll walk for large parts of a day through the bush, or even for a couple of days, camping out. Sometimes these will be to walk with cheetahs, which seem particularly comfortable being accompanied or tailed by humans; other times it will just be about the thrill of spending protracted amounts of time on foot in what has become an alien and fascinating environment for modern man, never knowing what is around the next corner, and really getting the chance to understand and appreciate nature. In the public reserves like Hluhluwe–iMfolozi, daily safari walks are operated by the parks board and can be booked on to when you arrive. If safari walks are something you are particularly interested in, please let us know so we can direct you towards appropriate lodges and reserves.

KwaZulu-Natal Self-Drive Safari

For those not staying on a private reserve, but staying in the Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Reserve, self-driving here is an interesting alternative to a guided safari. Unless you really know a lot about safari, it should never replace the experience of guided game drives and walks in the company of an expert who can not only find the animals but also explain them to you. However to complement guided game drives, or for those who feel they know their way around their African wildlife, it makes an exciting and rewarding way to see game. The park is laced with a network of roads, some tarmac and many more graded tracks (passable in a normal saloon car). There is a real thrill in setting off into the park, under your own steam, equipped with a map showing roads, waterholes and notable features, a pair of binoculars, a bird and mammal guide, and perhaps a packed lunch. You can then do whatever takes your fancy: spend half an hour with a herd of zebra or impala (which would never happen on a guided game drive), or head for a waterhole and sit with your bird book trying to identify as many species as possible, or simply to drive slowly around, taking in the amazing scenery and hoping to spot some big game.

Zulu homestead visit

Zulu culture is alive and well in the Battlefields area. Interest in Zulu culture, in part fuelled by historic British involvement in the battles with Zulus, which has helped keep it alive through the creation of cultural villages and traditional homesteads that receive visitors. Here you can learn about traditional Zulu building techniques, see how Zulu beer is prepared and enjoy the energetic and expressive Zulu dancing. One of the most interesting elements of traditional Zulu life is the role of the sangoma who is part herbal healer, part ritualistic shaman for the community. A consultation with the sangoma is an integral part of any visit to a Zulu community.