The small Queen Elizabeth Park Nature Reserve serves as the headquarters of
KZN Wildlife. The reserve is situated a short distance north of
Pietermaritzburg's city centre, and provides an environmental education and
outdoor recreation area for the people of the Natal Midlands. It contains a
variety of habitats including forest patches, thickets, open woodland and
grassland. Animals to be found in the reserve include Impala, zebra, blesbok,
bushbuck, both grey and blue duiker, monkeys and rock hyrax.. Queen Elizabeth
Park also serves as an excellent birding destination, and visitors can expect
sightings of crowned eagle, African Emerald Cuckoo, Olive Woodpecker, both
Tawny-flanked Prinia and Drakensberg Prinia, four species of canaries, an
assortment of weavers, Common Waxbill and Zitting Cisticola to mention a few.
There are a large number of indigenous and exotic plants growing in the reserve,
but of special interest are the numerous species of cycads which grow around the
Douglas Mitchell Centre, and the endangered Hilton daisies which grow naturally
in the grasslands in the park. The Queen Elizabeth park nature reserve also
features a model bird garden and the circular self-guided iDube Trail, which
offers beautiful views over the city. The reserve also has a small resource
centre, and a variety of environmental education workshops are run regularly
there throughout the year. Visitors can also make use of three picnic areas with
barbecue and ablution facilities.