Durban - The old picture this week was spotted by our photographer Shelley Kjonstad while on a trip to Hilltop Camp in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park over the Easter weekend. There, she saw a 1966 picture of the camp in the reception area, and went about shooting a modern version.
The Hilltop Camp is the pride of the park. The resort is on the edge of a forested hill and offers fine views of the surrounding countryside. The first visitor camp was built at Hilltop in 1934 and it holds the distinction of being the oldest tourist resort in KwaZulu-Natal.
Home to the Big Five, The Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa and is rich in history dating from the early Iron Age. It was here where the Zulu kings, such as King Shaka, hunted and put in place the first conservation laws.
The Hluhluwe and iMfolozi Game Reserves were established in 1895, in an attempt to save the last remaining populations of southern white rhino which, due to hunting, was thought to be extinct. A population of between 20 and 100 was identified in the area and preserved by establishing the two reserves. In the 1940s and ’50s, thanks to Project Rhino, the population had risen to more than 400. In 1989, the corridor between the Hluhluwe and iMfolozi reserves was added to join the separate reserves into the single park.
The Hilltop Camp is the only camp in the park that has a restaurant. It has 70 accommodation units that can house up to 190 people. It was substantially rebuilt and enlarged in the ’90s, providing accommodation that ranges from a luxury lodge to self-catering facilities.
The changes are reflected in Kjonstad’s modern picture of the site, which shows a Hilltop Camp much changed over the past 50 years.
The Independent on Saturday