Umkhanyakude District

Umkhanyakude District, named after the famous yellow-barked fever tree, literally meaning “seen from afar”, is the northernmost district in KwaZulu-Natal and contains many areas of outstanding natural beauty.

The district stretches from the Umfolozi River, near Mtubatuba in the south, to the Mozambiquan and Swaziland borders in the north. To the east it borders the Indian Ocean with 175km of pristine beaches, to the north it borders Mocambique and Swaziland. Further south it is bordered by Zululand District to the west and Uthungulu District to the south. The district contains the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park (now known as Isimangaliso – ‘the miracle’) World Heritage Site, and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, Mkuze, Ndumo and Tembe game parks. The southern tip of the Lebombo Mountains and the adjacent East African coastal plain begin in the district, stretching north up to eastern continental Africa.

Umkhanyakude is described as one of the two most deprived districts in the country according to the District Health Barometer. “Deprivation” is defined as a combination of indictors including unemployment rates, access to piped water and electricity, female-headed households with high numbers of children and low education levels, according to the Health Systems Trust which produces the Barometer.