Tembe elephant park and Kosi Bay offer a break during World Cup 2010

Dec 22, 2009, 11:16 GMT

Manguzi, Mozambique - When Ernest Robbertse was still chasing criminals he dreamt of a peaceful place on earth. One where doors wouldn't need to be locked and with, preferably, a few wild animals in the landscape. The former private investigator has found just that in the land of the Thembe people along the border between South Africa and Mozambique.

'For me this is paradise,' the grey-haired pensioner from the South African port city of Durban says, pointing to the vast plain that extends to picturesque forests on the horizon. Sable antelope are swirling up dust alongside the 4x4 and not far away, an elephant herd is plodding through the grass.

'Today, Africa's largest elephants are roaming peacefully here again,' says Robbertse, who co-owns the only lodge in the Tembe National Elephant Park in South Africa's KwaZulu Natal Province. This little-known pearl of nature is jointly administered by the Thembe community and the goverment-backed conservation agency, KZN Wildlife.

The reserve is available for short safari getaways during the football World Cup in 2010.

A six-hour drive from Johannesburg or just four from Durban leads to the turnoff to the Tembe Elephant Park, where the tarred road gives way to a vast, pristine part of nature. That this terrain has not always been tranquil is apparent when one sees the scars on a few of the older elephants.

A few kilometres north, in neighbouring Mozambique, a decades-long civil war once raged. It was not only people who fled across the border during the war. Throughout the 1980s, Mozambican rebels, soldiers and game poachers armed with automatic weapons decimated the animal population, including elephant, rhino, lion and giraffe on the South African side.

The Tembe reserve was established in 1983 with a particular focus on protecting the last of the elephant herds still roaming this part of southern Africa. The 30,000-hectare area was declared off limits for settlements and livestock.

'Our elders consented and were involved from the outset and shared in the benefits,' says Tom Inkozi, the camp manager. However, years would pass before the arrival of the first visitors on the elephant trail.

'In the beginning, the animals were terribly unsettled - the elephants reacted aggressively as soon as a vehicle approached,' Inkozi explains. 'No wonder, when one considers that their herds had earlier been massacred by cars.'

In the meantime, more and more tourists are combining trips to South Africa with detours to Mozambique for visits to, among others, Ponta Mamoli Resort. The resort with its 120 luxury villas is is situated to the south of the Machungulo peninsula. There is a road link to the South African border town of Manguzi and further on, to another of nature's gems: Kosi Bay Nature Reserve.

This pristine area is a system of four interconnected lakes that lead into the Indian Ocean via an estuary. At high tide, sea water washes into the lake. The combination of fresh and salt water and the tropical climate sustain the rich flora that includes mangroves, ferns, orchids and palms. Kosi Bay is dubbed the 'aquarium' of the elephant coast because of the abundance of fish species in its clear waters.

Anglers and snorkelers, in particular, love Kosi Bay which is home to hippopotamuses, crocodiles and Zambezi sharks.

In keeping with state conservation authorities' aim to shield the area from mass tourism, there are few places to overnight. Maputaland Lodge in Manguzi, along with the beautiful Kosi Bay Lodge which offers a view of the ocean, are the only upmarket facilities of this kind.

Internet: www.southafrica.net, www.tembe.co.za, www.kznparks.com.