Ndumo hosts a diverse range of habitats including sand forest, dense riverine forest, floodplains, alluvial plains, reed beds, grassland, broad-leaved and acacia woodlands and extremely dense thornveld.

Ndumo is popular for its birdlife and despite its small size, the reserve has recorded in excess of 430 bird species including residents and seasonal migrants.

The park's abundance of pans, floodplains and rivers (Pongola & Usutu) provide suitable habitat for many aquatic species.

One resident says of this period of time:There we were rich; we ate sweet potatoes, bananas, madumbe [root vegetable], cassava and pumpkins.

[3]The unresolved dispute over control of this land, and ongoing issues with Community Based Natural Resource Management as a conservation model in the province (Meer 2010), has resulted in the anomalous situation that the eastern part of this declared provincial game reserve is now occupied and farmed by locals.