A voice from the wilderness: A place called Umfolozi

It’s a little-known fact that the Umfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu Province, South Africa, is one of the oldest nature reserves in the world.

Although officially gazetted in 1895, it has its origin some 70 years earlier when the legendary Zulu Chief, King Shaka, proclaimed the region as a projected zone to preserve different wildlife and especially birds.

This then challenges contemporary beliefs that the Yellowstone National Park in the USA, which was proclaimed in 1872, is the grandfather of designated game reserves. The vision of a Zulu leader who foresaw the over consumption of resources and declared the region as a royally protected zone, predates the famous Yellowstone by almost half a century.

Wildlife paradise and cultural treasure

Today, despite the ongoing threats of mining and development, the Umfolozi is one of the province’s last remaining islands of big game wilderness. Vast rolling hills, woodland thickets and grasslands are all dominated by the meandering Black and White Umfolozi rivers which dramatically cut the ancient landscapes.

The region is a cultural treasure chest with the rich and vibrant Zulu history and the legend of King Shaka. Some sites in the reserve are so deeply entwined in traditional folklore that people today consider sacred.

The folklore of rural Zululand is incredible and old implements, grindstones, sharpening stones, iron ore fragments and pottery shards are often found on trail.

Impact of two conservation legends

It is here at this place in 1957, while on trail in Umfolozi, that the vision of two remarkable men would go on to change the concept of conservation and wilderness awareness in Southern Africa, Africa and beyond.

Steeped in this ancient history of the old Zulu order, legendary conservationists Dr. Ian Player and Magqubu Ntombela would form an organisation called the Wilderness Leadership School through which thousands of trailists would go on and participate.

In short, the school inspires deep wilderness encounters facilitating the inspiring impact that nature and solitude has on the human spirit.

Not only as a conservation model but also as an example of cultural, ethnic and racial harmony. A gathering and fusion of opposites, which in South Africa at the time, was threatening to implode. To say this was a pioneering vision is perhaps the understatement of the century, for all wilderness trails in Africa, and the very concept of wilderness consciousness itself was born here in Umfolozi.

Wilderness Leadership School experience

The organization and its incredible legacy is now into its 6th decade, and is still operating these meaningful trails in Umfolozi. I have led numerous wilderness encounters here in partnership with the School, striding along the ancient footpaths of the old order that men like Ian Player and Magqubu Ntombela did in the past. Perhaps even King Shaka too.

Here, as we camp wild under the stars with the solitude of a campfire and our own thoughts for company, we quench our thirsts from the White Umfolozi River, and in doing so share the same water with the animals. This then, makes us equal.

Let’s safari!
Alan