North Park Nature Reserve is a protected area along the banks of the Umhlatuzana River, near

Queensburgh Queensburgh () is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that is situated inland (southwest) from Durban and now forms part of eThekwini, the Greater Durban metropolitan area. History The hilly area was settled by people working in Durban who ...

in KwaZulu-Natal,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The park was proclaimed in 1968 and is managed by

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is a governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wildlife conservation areas and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Their headquarters is in Queen Elizabeth Park situated on the northern slopes o ...

Flora and fauna

The reserve protects riverine and

coastal scarp forest Areas of forest which grow in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa mostly on south facing slopes in higher rainfall areas, and along the humid coastal areas. Different types of forest can be identified by their species composition which depends mostly ...

, and is known for its birdlife and butterflies. There are a recorded 102 tree species in the reserve, with 48 considered rare. Close to 160 bird species have been recorded, including the

Knysna Turaco The Knysna turaco (''Tauraco corythaix''), or, in South Africa, Knysna loerie, is a large turaco, one of a group of African musophagidae birds. It is a resident breeder in the mature evergreen forests of southern and eastern South Africa, and Sw ...

and Purple Crested Turaco. A number of small mammals can be found in the reserve, including

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

and

grey duiker The common duiker (''Sylvicapra grimmia''), also known as the grey or bush duiker, is a small antelope and the only member of the genus ''Sylvicapra''. This species is found everywhere in Africa south of the Sahara, excluding the Horn of Afric ...

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

, hyrax and

cane rat The genus ''Thryonomys'', also known as the cane rats or grasscutters, is a genus of rodent found throughout Africa south of the Sahara, the only members of the family Thryonomyidae. They are eaten in some African countries and are a pest species ...

References

{{Nature Reserves in eThekwini Nature reserves in South Africa