South Africa - Featured Trips

Stay Another Day in the diverse and beautiful province of KwaZulu Natal and get to know the real Zulu Kingdom. Extend your itinerary to include interesting and off-the-beaten track experiences, such as the Mehloding Adventure Trails, St Lucia Hippo & Croc Cruise and a Battlefield tour. Below you will find more examples of activities and excursions that you can add to your KwaZulu Natal itinerary to extend your stay and learn more about its natural environment, people and cultures.

All of the below Stay Another Day suggestions create jobs & social upliftment and are as environmentally friendly as possible. They are also carefully chosen for their sustainability and many are FTTSA accredited. For more information and prices, please contact us.

Mehloding Adventure Trails (FTTSA accredited) are run in the Southern Drakensberg Mountains. These guided hiking trails take you into the lesser known part of the Ukhahlamba / Drakensberg National Park (also World Heritage Site). Discover San rock art, proteas and tree ferns, enjoy sweeping mountain views and pass through rural villages to be greeted by friendly local communities and get a glimpse of traditional culture. At the end of each day be welcomed by your hostess at comfortable chalets where you can enjoy a hot shower, African cuisine and an inviting bed.

This Hippo & Croc Cruise (FTTSA accredited) starts from the town of St Lucia, the Southern most point of Lake St Lucia. This area was proclaimed a World Heritage Site in 1999, and recently the adjacent Wetland Park bordering St Lucia was renamed the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. The St Lucia Estuary is the largest estuarine system on the African Continent and boasts the largest concentration of hippos in South Africa. You can also expect to encounter plenty of crocodiles, mangrove swamps, prolific birdlife (incl. weavers and fish eagles), second highest vegetated dunes in the world and oyster banks with stories of days gone by. After 2 hours on the water you will leave the boat with lots of knowledge about Lake St Lucia and the surrounding wetlands.

This full day Battlefield Tour is guided by a local historian, who will put the Anglo-Zulu War and events leading up to the outbreak of hostilities in January 1879 in context for you. The battle of Isandlwana was considered the greatest defeat in British colonial history and as the dramatic events of the day unfold, you will begin to envisage the tragedy and the bravery of this extraordinary battle that took place during a solar eclipse. After a picnic lunch, you will travel to Rorke's Drift. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded at here for bravery, this being the largest amount awarded to any single regiment in British history. At Rorke's Drift you will also visit the museum.

Giant Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles make their way home to the northern KZN coast having swum the length of the continent in a return journey to the beach where they were born. Research has shown that eggs are often laid within meters of where the mother emerged as a hatchling years previously. On this Turtle Tracking trip you are able to view these magnificent creatures up close when she is laying her eggs. However, utmost precaution is taken to ensure that she is not disturbed! Turtle tracking is generally offered from November to January as a night activity and can last up to 4 hrs. Hence you may return to your accommodation quite late.

Thembalethu Craft Village, just outside the village of Hluhluwe, is a live-in village that provides visitors with the opportunity to experience first hand beadwork, basket weaving, wood carving and other crafts and artefacts used in the daily lives of the Zulu people. In the various on-site shops and galleries you can chose from a huge collection of traditional Zulu baskets, beadwork, wire bowls, handmade paper products, one-of-a-kind collector's art pieces from across Africa (new and old) and bush wear.

Ilala Weavers help over 2000 Zulu people, both men and women, to attain self-sufficiency, by working from their homes and therefore retaining their lifestyle and rich heritage of basket weaving and beadwork, which has been passed down through the generations by Zulu crafters.