The Dlinza Forest is a

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

or Coastal Scarp Forest in Eshowe, Zululand,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, one of five natural

s running in a 100 km line running northwest from the coast. Others are the Ongoye, Entumeni, Nkandla and Qudeni Forests. They are the most important forests in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

from the aspect of unique

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

. It contains rare

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s and

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

s. Dlinza is the home of more than 65 species of birds, including the endangered

spotted ground thrush The spotted ground thrush (''Geokichla guttata'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, and possibly Mozambique. Description These birds ar ...

which breeds here, rare Delegorgue's pigeon, magnificent purple-crested turaco and Narina trogon. The name Dlinza is derived from Zulu meaning ''a gravelike place of meditation'' after the peaceful setting. Occasional church services are held here and every 3 years a nativity play, written by Selwyn Moberley in 1953, is staged in the forest.

Canopy Boardwalk

First of its kind in Southern Africa, the

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway typically built with wooden planks, which functions as a type of low water bridge or small viaduct that enables pedestrians to ...

winds through the

forest canopy In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and includ ...

and ends up on a tower overlooking the Dlinza Forest. The Boardwalk takes you 125 metres through the forest understory to a 20 metre high viewing platform which emerges above the canopy of trees.

References

Geography of KwaZulu-Natal Forests of South Africa Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Parks Tourist attractions in KwaZulu-Natal {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub

Canopy Boardwalk

See also

References