Out of Saint Lucia, we head North away from the coastal plain, once again crossing the mountains to climb into the interior plateau, bound for the Kruger park. The scenery is as beautiful as it has been all along – vast plantations and neat little villages featuring the typical round huts from the Zulu tradition. South Africa’s largest ethnic group, here in KwaZulu-Natal alone the Zulu number over 7.5 million. Portuguese navigator Vasco da Game christened these lands Natal, having arrived on Christmas day 1497, yet by mid 19th century there were still less than 5,000 Europeans. Then, thanks to the influx of indented labour from the British colonies and the railway, farming took off on a commercial scale and conflict between the Boers, the British and the Zulu escalated into outright war (two between the British and the Boers, one between the British and the Zulu). The Zulu kings, having been defeated, lost their independence and lands, and it was only in1994 that the province of Natal was renamed KwaZulu-Natal, the land of the Zulu, as well as Natal