‘I never saw such an extraordinarily beautiful place in life as there, hundreds of feet below us stretched out the whole valley with our huts looking like specks, and in the distance there were hills rising one above another, with a splendid blue tint on them.”
I don’t know exactly where Cecil John Rhodes was when he penned the above lines, about 130 years ago, but it must have been somewhere very close to the viewing platforms overlooking the Umkomaas Valley at Duma Manzi. When Rhodes was just 17 he developed a lung affliction, so his family sent him out from Britain to stay with his brother in South Africa. Herbert Rhodes was trying his hand at cotton farming in the Umkomaas Valley near Richmond in Natal, but after a year of unremitting effort alongside his brother, Cecil packed his bags and headed for the diamond fields of Kimberley, where he made a fortune — and a reputation — within a very short time.
Duma Manzi (Thundering waters in Zulu) is 30 minutes’ drive from Pietermaritzburg and an hour from Durban. But, despite its close proximity to these cities, most of their residents are blissfully unaware of its existence. The 5 000ha private game reserve, owned by Craig and Lisa Walsh, encompasses the original Rhodes farm, but very little remains of the original dwelling and a monument erected on its site has been vandalised.
Duma Manzi is a place where people go to do things, so in true pioneering spirit I had to go through the motions. The day after I arrived the wildlife on the river banks were treated, briefly, to the spectacle of a large, unfit middle-aged man trying to paddle a canoe down the drought-stricken Umkomaas river. After an hour or so of tumbling about on slippery rocks while trying to wrench my canoe free of their grasp, I gave up and walked back to the lodge along the road, my trip made all the more gloomy by the sight of younger, fitter adventurers paddling blithely over and around the obstacles. Action man would from there on become a spectator.
Duma Manzi offers numerous activities for the energetic, and provides team-building opportunities incorporating a real mix of challenges. Abseiling, paint-ball warfare, clay-pigeon shooting, white-water-rafting, canoeing and kayaking, hiking, tubing, mountain biking, survival techniques and horse riding are on hand to test your mettle.
But there’s no pressure to dash about burning calories, and those who prefer to spend their time in a more leisurely fashion can partake of game drives, 4×4 trailing or simply relax in the camp with a good book.
I opted to explore the 4×4 trails that criss-cross the reserve, accompanied by Mark Sykes, who runs a survival course and gives guided tours of the area on horseback. Sykes is an expert on all the local flora and fauna, and the enormous range of both in the area gives him much to talk about.
Local history is a passion of his, and mine, so he took me to the site of the Rhodes dwelling and told of the gunrunners who used to pass through the valley in the 19th century.
If Rhodes felt out of place in the bush, the two men I met at our next stop most certainly didn’t. Paulus Nxau and Dixon Pakwe will tell you emphatically that they’re Boesmanne, or Bushmen. They’ve never heard of political correctness, so the terms San, Khwe, Khoe, Basarwa, Tengyanateng or KhoiSan bestowed upon them by well-meaning white liberals mean nothing to them. Nxau hails from Angola and Pakwe from Namibia, and both spent years in the South African Defence Force before the arrival of democracy in 1994.
After peace was brokered and they were resettled in the Kimberley area by the army, they signed a contract with a Richmond security company to help in the fight against cattle rustlers. Their job entailed tracking the culprits and recovering the rustled livestock, and the two gained a reputation for not giving up before the job was done.
When their contract expired Nxau and Pakwe moved to Duma Manzi, where they now teach city slickers how to survive in the wild. They’re charming and totally unselfconscious. In a simple demonstration they made a blazing fire in less than three minutes by twirling a stick against a piece of wood and using the friction-generated heat to ignite a dried-out bird’s nest Nxau carried in his bow quiver. They also demonstrated their stalking and tracking skills and told us about the medical techniques their people have used for centuries.
For me, as a rand-earning South African, the best thing about Duma Manzi is that it’s largely escaped the attentions of foreigners brandishing wads of dollars, pounds and euros, so the rates are affordable for locals.
Accommodation options range from a bring-your-own-tent scenario through to a full-house luxury lodge with all meals included. The activities are affordable — game drives at R25 a person an hour, paint-ball at R85 a person, and horse rides at R100 an hour are all cheaper than most tourist-mugging lodges are now asking. Game and birds abound, and you can look at them all for free!
The lowdown
Duma Manzi is 30 minutes from Pietermaritzburg and an hour from Durban. The 5 000ha reserve is malaria-free and accessible by car.
Two wooden decks afford spectacular views of the valley for early morning birding or enjoying sundowners. The reserve supports a large variety of game including wildebeest, zebra, impala, nyala, blesbok, warthog, caracal and serval. There have also been sightings of leopard. Birds are plentiful — more than 200 species have been recorded, including Knysna and purple crested loeries, narina trogons, fish eagles and crowned eagles.
There’s no shortage of outdoor activities, and Mark Sykes of Tracks Only Trails (082 558 6076) provides daily and overnight horse tours, as well as bushcraft and survival courses at very reasonable rates.
For accommodation, there’s Duma Manzi lodge — a fully equipped and serviced two-bedroomed thatched cottage on the banks of the river — which costs R170 a person a night (minimum of four people). There’s also a six-bed luxury lodge, which costs R650 a person a night fully catered, and a camp with stone and thatched chalets and tents, with a fully equipped kitchen and central entertainment/dining area. A minimum of 10 people is required to book the camp for R1 500 a night (R150 a person). Day visitors are welcome by appointment only.
For more information or to book, Tel: 082 900 6504 or visit www.dumamanzi.co.za