Rich in natural ambience and with a distinctively African rhythm, Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris treats guests to luxurious accommodation, tantalising cuisine, and a world-class service with friendly staff who live the motto "hospitality is our game"

The Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris encourages visitors to leave the modern world behind and to embark on a discovery... the untamed beauty of Kwazulu Natal's Elephant coast and the neighbouring wildlife and marine reserves have created a vibrant  eco-system of unrivalled diversity. 

At the Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris- you'll discover the wild nature of Africa and you will rejoice in the luxury and reval in the friendly warmth of one of Africa's most welcoming hotels!

At a glance

• 75 spacious fully air-conditioned en-suite bedrooms
• television
• telephone
• tea & coffee making facilities
• Restaurant
• Bar
• Outdoor Bar
• Swimming Pool
• 100 seat conference facility
• 4X4 Safaris & Team Building
• Own Safari tours (Game Drives)
• curio shop
• Zulu Boma (Kraal)

Accommodation
Hluhluwe hotel has 75 spacious fully air-conditioned en-suite bedrooms, with television, telephone, tea & coffee making facilities. Rooms comprise 41 spacious double rooms with 2 double beds in each room, 22 single rooms with one double bed and 12 twin rooms with 2 single beds. Daily laundry service is available.

The restaurant area and pubs are fully air-conditioned with a Big TV screen in the Rhino Bar. The Hotel offers excellent cuisine together with a wine list offering some of South Africa's most interesting wines to compliment the atmosphere of the cultural charm of the restaurant.

The infamous Rhino Bar inside the hotel was a famous watering hole in the seventies and a bullet hole remains as proof of the untamed spirit of the early years.

A magnificent outdoor bar on the swimming pool terrace, under a gigantic Umkanyakude (Fever Tree) provides the perfect setting for the Zulu dance shows and sundownersin the evenings.

A modern 100 seat conference facility featuring 7.1 surround sound, and touch screen control audio & visual equipment. 4X4 Safaris & Team Building can be incorporated into your conference. Phone Sharon in Reservations for your own personalised quotation.

A traditional Zulu Boma (Kraal) provides an alternative outdoor venue for shows and dinner under the African sky.

The hotel's curio shop offers anything from beautiful handcrafted African curio's to a variety of safari clothing, or you can purchase any of the African music CD's which provide the background music to set the scene.

Activities

Cultural Activities

Experience traditional Zulu culture with Hluhluwe Hotel & Safaris in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Learn about rich Zulu lifestyle and their heritage or for the more adventurious there are a number of activities including diving and 4X4 Trails.

Traditional Zulu Dance

Traditional Zulu Dance & Singing Shows are performed during evenings and on request at Hluhluwe Hotel & Safaris for group bookings. These shows take place in a spectacular setting under a gigantic indigenous Umkanyakude (Fever Tree) or in a traditional Zulu Boma

Traditional Villages

Traditional Villages are situated near Hluhluwe Village. Guests can watch and learn about Zulu Traditions including basket weaving, spear and shield making, bead work, pot making, Sangoma's, and spectacular Zulu dancing.

Thembalethu Craft Village

Thembalethu craft village is a live-in Museum where visitors have the opportunity to experience firsthand basket weaving, wood carving, beading and other crafts and historical Zulu artifacts.

Shakaland

Shakaland situated near Eshowe. Built as the set for the epic feature Shaka Zulu a film documenting this great warriors life. Guests can watch and learn about Zulu Traditions including basket weaving, spear and shield making, bead work, pot making, Sangoma's, and spectacular Zulu dancing.

Ilala Weavers

Ilala Weavers is situated at Hluhluwe within the province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Established some 20 years ago, with a clear vision and objective of revitalising and enhancing the age-old Zulu woman's tradition of handcrafts, which at the time were in danger of being lost forever.

Today, Ilala Weavers helps over 2000 Zulu people, both men and women, to attain self-sufficiency, by working from their homes and therefore retaining their rich lifestyle and rich heritage of basket weaving and bead work which has been passed down through the generations by Zulu crafts women, whose modern counterparts today produce stunning works of art, sought after the world over.

Activities & Day Trips

4X4 Open Vehicle Game Drives

Join Hluhluwe Safaris on a 3, 6, or 9 hour safari into the world famous Hluhluwe/Umfolozi game reserve Home to the big five.

Guided walks through False Bay Wildlife Reserve and others

Hluhluwe Hotel & Safaris can arrange guided walks along the fossil lined shores of Lake St Lucia and through False Bay Wildlife Reserve.

Cheetah & Serval Project.

Visit the Cheetah & Serval Project. View and photograph these magnificent and rare cat species at feeding time, with an informational talk by guide.

Horse Riding 2-hour

Golf at Umfolozi Country Club or Monzi Country Club

Snake & Crocodile Park

Where the curator will point out many indigenous South African snakes and a crocodile park where various sizes of crocodile will be found.

St Lucia Crocodile Centre and Snake Park

A series of displays provide information on the breading, feeding, anatomy, general ecology and distribution of this prehistoric reptile. There are also displays of the Lake system covering the sea, beach, dune forest, grassland and the lakeshore.

Open-air ponds afford visitors an opportunity to view and photograph about 200 Nile crocodile, as well as two other African species the long snouted and the dwarf crocodiles. A Cycad garden which houses most of the cycad species found in KwaZulu-Natal has been established

Sodwana Bay Diving Adventures

Nestled in pristine tranquility, within the boundaries of The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, Sodwana Bay provides divers with a vast array of unspoilt coral reefs, populated with a huge diversity of Indo-Pacific fish & invertebrates, it is also well known for clear waters allowing scuba divers and snorkellers a glimpse of the rich diversity of rocky and coral reef life. Equipment can be hired.

Charters Creek Launch Tours

Weather and lake level permitting, discover Lake St. Lucia on a launch. For two hours you will enjoy a 35km cruise along the eastern shores of the lake. Here you will be given wonderful opportunities for game viewing and photography.

This is your chance to see hippo, crocodile, elephant, buffalo, leopard, rhino, African fish eagle among other indigenous bird and animal life! Lake St. Lucia is pristine, and unpolluted. The cruise boat is equipped with canopy, toilet, and bar facility as well as upholstered lounge type seating arranged so that the skipper can communicate with all the passengers.

Boat Cruise on the Hluhluwe River and Dam

There is a 40-seater boat in the Hluhluwe Game Reserve which takes visitors on guided trips twice a day. The trips are conducted by an experienced community guide and visitors can see an excellent range of birds and animals within the park. The cruise passes a traditional Zulu Village on the river bank and the guests are given a talk about the life in this village. Hippo, crocodile and a great variety of birds and indigenous trees can be seen on this scenic tour.

Launch Tours at St Lucia Estuary

For a two hour cruise up the St Lucia Estuary to see hippos, crocodiles and a wonderful variety of bird life. This boat safari, bringing the visitors close to hippo lazing in the waters and crocodiles basking in the sun on the estuary's banks. Pelicans riding the thermals overhead and the haunting call of the fish eagle make this a truly African Experience.

These cruises offer an educational two-hour tour with onboard facilities such as toilet and bar, and spacious comfortable seats with a sundeck. Tours leave daily at 09:00, 12:00 and 16:00

Deep-sea, Game, Bill and Bottom fishing or Fresh Water Fishing

Fishing trips to Sodwana Bay, St Lucia or Josini Dam can be arranged.

Whale watching

Whale watching trips can be arranged. Personal attention from management; full safety certificates; qualified skippers and guides, ensures an unforgettable 2-hour experience. Season runs from 1st June -30th November.

Turtle Tours

Season runs from 1st November till 31stMarch. In the Summer months loggerheads and leatherback turtles come onto the beach at night to lay eggs. Tour departure is dependent on tides, and runs for 6 hours.