Great expectations ended in a big disappointment.

The access road to the Royal Natal National Park is already not great but we expected the road to get better once we were in the park. No map or layout was given when we got to the gate but we received verbal instructions how to get to the Thendele Chalets. The tar road began to deteriorate more and more with huge chunks of tar missing and large potholes. It is clear no road maintenance has been done there for years. On one section the tar had sunk away and we could not navigate around it as there was a steep incline. We were afraid to damage our car and turned back before we managed to get to Thendele where we had booked for 3 nights. We were on our last leg of our journey through South-Africa and this was a huge disappointment. We had to make last minute alternate reservations at another reserve at great cost.

The response from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has been disappointing.