The long story

The history of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi is one of Africa's oldest proclaimed game reserves, but its history is not one of unbroken protection. It was gazetted in 1895, partly given up during the campaigns against the tsetse fly, and rebuilt in the second half of the twentieth century, when most of its large predators were brought back.

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Its two founding reserves, Hluhluwe and iMfolozi, were gazetted by the Zululand colonial government on 30 April 1895. iMfolozi was de-proclaimed and re-proclaimed several times during the nagana campaigns, when an estimated 100,000 head of game were killed. Hilltop, the first visitor camp, opened in 1934; the Natal Parks Board took over in 1952; Africa's first wilderness area followed in 1959; and the Corridor joining the two sections was proclaimed in 1989. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife runs the park today.

Is Hluhluwe-iMfolozi the oldest game reserve in Africa?

It is one of Africa's oldest proclaimed game reserves. Its two founding reserves were gazetted on 30 April 1895, under Government Notice 12, when the Zululand colonial government proclaimed five reserves, among them the Hluhluwe valley and the Umfolozi Junction reserve. Both were re-proclaimed as game reserves in April 1897, according to the park's 2013 management plan.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife calls the park Africa's oldest proclaimed game reserve, and the management plan calls it the first designated protected area on the continent. Ezemvelo's own page on Pongola Nature Reserve, however, says Pongola was first proclaimed as a game reserve by President Paul Kruger in 1894, a year earlier. iMfolozi was also not protected without a break, as the next section shows.

The nagana years: 1907 to 1952

Nagana, the cattle disease carried by the tsetse fly, shaped the first half of the reserve's century. In the campaigns against it, iMfolozi was de-proclaimed in 1907; the Umfolozi Junction reserve was de-proclaimed again in 1926 and proclaimed once more in 1929; and in 1932 it was handed to the Department of Veterinary Services. The management plan estimates that more than 100,000 head of game were needlessly slaughtered in this period.

The Natal Parks Board took responsibility for the reserve in 1952, and the long rebuilding began.

1934: Hilltop, the first visitor camp

The first camp for visitors was built at Hilltop, high in the Hluhluwe section, in 1934. It is still the park's main camp, with its only restaurant, and its rondavels and chalets are reached from Memorial Gate on the tarred road that remains the park's spine.

1959: Africa's first wilderness area and the trails

In its annual report for April 1958 to March 1959, the Natal Parks Board recorded that some 12,150 hectares of iMfolozi had been set aside as a wilderness area, closed to all motor traffic and open only to rangers or to visitors on foot with a ranger. The management plan calls it the first wilderness area on the African continent, designated by a resolution of the Board rather than by proclamation.

The first public wilderness trail followed on 19 March 1959, led by Ian Player and Magqubu Ntombela, according to Ezemvelo's trails brochure. The trails still leave from Mpila today, in groups of up to eight. Ezemvelo now gives the wilderness area as about 25,000 ha; its older trails brochure says some 30,000 ha.

Bringing the animals back

Much of what you see today was returned to the park after 1960. The management plan records that cheetahs were reintroduced after 1966, wild dogs in 1980 and 1981 and again in 2002 and 2003, and elephants in several groups between 1981 and 2000. Lions were successfully reintroduced after local extinction. Giraffe and impala were introduced, and are not historically native here, and the nyala population was supplemented.

Not every trend points up. The plan notes that blue duiker have declined since the 1970s, and that a park of under 1,000 km² is marginal rather than optimal for elephant.

1989: one park from two reserves

Hluhluwe and iMfolozi began as separate reserves. The Corridor Reserve between them, 21,598 ha, was proclaimed on 21 July 1989, and the three together make up the park today. The management plan gives the total as 94,984 ha: 25,633 ha in the Hluhluwe section, 47,753 ha in iMfolozi and the Corridor. The round 96,000 ha that Ezemvelo uses in its marketing is a rounding of that figure. The public R618 road between Mtubatuba and Nongoma still runs through the Corridor.

Who runs the park now

The park is managed by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the provincial conservation authority established under the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Management Act 9 of 1997. Its most recent approved management plan for the park dates from 2013. Two Hluhluwe bush lodges, Muntulu and Munyawaneni, appeared in the 2018/19 tariff and in no tariff from 2020/21 onwards. Rhino Ridge Safari Lodge, inside the park, stands on land that the Mpembeni community chose to incorporate into it, according to the lodge.

Ezemvelo relaunched its website in 2026, launched its Beach2Bush route linking Hilltop with St Lucia on 14 May 2025, and in July 2026 reported guiding elephants back into the park from the Vuna area. These governance and management facts are as they stood on 24 September 2026, when this guide's research was done, and may have moved since.

What you can see of the history today

Hilltop Camp, built in 1934 as the park's first visitor camp, still the main camp of the Hluhluwe section.
The iMfolozi Wilderness Area, on a wilderness trail from Mpila: the same idea, on foot with a ranger, that began in 1959.
The Centenary Centre near Nyalazi Gate, with an interpretation centre and a community-run craft market.
The Corridor, crossed by the R618, which has linked the two old reserves since 1989.