Wilderness Trails

Having toured the Hluhluwe-Umfolosi game reserve, staying both at Hilltop camp in Hluhluwe (which is a good camp to visist, expecially if you are an international visitor and not wishing to self-cater), then Mpila Camp in Umfolosi, I visited Wilderness Trails, which operates walking safaris in the South of Umfolosi. The term "Walking Safari" may be a little grand. This is not the upmarket form of walking safari, like those offerd in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia, or other private safari lodges, where paired down silver service in the bush is the norm - quite the contrary; Wilderness Trails run more basic walking safaris in a pristine wilderness area, where the object of the exercise is to connect with the natural environment totally, and disconnect with the modern world. However, there are different levels of trail, ranging from very primitive trails (you carry very little, sleep out under the stars - no tent! - and live minimally), to more comfortable trails where you sleep uinder canvas, have some support for carrying, and walk out with a ranger to explore the bush and possibly see game. The southern half of the Umfolosi covers about 30,000 Ha of pristine bush around the White Umfolosi river, and part of this was King Shaka's former hunting grounds. It truly is unspoiled, and there are no traces of man - as soon as I left Mpila camp and dropped down to the Wilderness Trails base camp on the edge of the Wilderness, I was very conscious of the fact that I had left the road behind and had entered a wilderness area - roads and other people is something one is always aware of in a national reserve, which I find off-putting - Wilderness Trails offers the perfect antidote to this, and is very suited to those of us who truly seek to connect with nature in the absense of modern intrusions.