When to Go
KwaZulu-Natal & Drakensberg
Mountains, coastline and Zulu heritage on one route.
When to Go
May to September — the dry season, and the one to sell. The Zululand bush thins and browns, water concentrates and sightings improve week by week; August and September are the sharpest of the year. Daytime highs sit around 24–26°C in the lowveld with cold, clear nights. The Drakensberg is at its best — hard frost, snow on the escarpment, real clarity, almost no rain — though mountain lodges get genuinely cold and clients should pack for it. Humpback whales pass between June and November, and the sardine run moves up the South Coast in June and July with the sharks, dolphins, gannets and whales that follow it.
October to November — the turn, and the value. The first thunderstorms break the heat, the bush greens within a fortnight and the migrant birds arrive, putting Phinda's 400-plus species list at its fullest. Impala and nyala calve and the predators follow them into the open. Loggerhead and leatherback turtles begin coming ashore on the Maputaland beaches in November.
December to February — hot, wet and full. Highs around 30°C on the coast with serious humidity, afternoon thunderstorms inland, and the heaviest rain of the year; February averages roughly 130mm in Durban. Game viewing is at its hardest, with thick bush and dispersed water. Everything else peaks: sea temperatures near 26°C, the best diving at Sodwana, turtle nesting through December and hatchlings from January, and the Berg green with every waterfall running. Mid-December to mid-January is the South African summer holiday and the busiest.
March and April — the quiet reward. The rains ease, the bush is still green but opening up, the sea holds around 25°C into April and the domestic crowds have gone apart from Easter week. Turtle hatchlings continue to the end of April, temperatures are mild and rates soften. If a client asks for one month, give them May: the rain has stopped, the bush is already thinning, the sea is still swimmable at about 23°C, the sardine run is beginning and winter has not yet reached the mountains. For game viewing alone, September.