Ithala Game Reserve is situated in 290 km² of rugged, mountainous thornveld, about 400 km north of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, in northern

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, South Africa. It is one of the youngest game parks in

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 ...

. The altitude varies from 400 m along the Phongolo River to 1,450 m along the Ngotshe Mountain escarpment. The reserve consequently encompasses a great variation of terrain, from densely vegetated river valleys and lowveld to sourveld, high-lying grassland plateaus, mountain ridges and cliff faces.

Game

Grazers include impala, red hartebeest, tsessebe, blue wildebeest, eland and reedbuck. With the exception of reedbuck, these species have been observed to produce young seasonally around November to December in Ithala, when ample green forage is available. The browsers include

duiker A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophinae ...

, bushbuck, nyala, kudu, giraffe and zebra, which deliver their young at any time of the year.

Reintroductions

All the big game species have been re-established with the exception of

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

. Locally extinct red-billed oxpeckers were reintroduced from the Kruger Park, c. 1994, when 175 birds were released.

Plants

This reserve is likely the only place in KwaZulu-Natal where the rare tree '' Protea comptonii'' grows.

History

* In the late 1800s land was given by King Dinizulu to boer farmers. * In 1973 the then Natal Parks Board started buying up farms in this area to make up this Reserve.

Trivia

* There are two abandoned gold mines in Ithala.

References

External links

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government homepage

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (previous known as Natal Parks Board)

South African National Parks Official Site
{{Authority control Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Parks