The Mission and Objectives of the Zululand Trail
There are several ways in which the Zululand Trail can be viewed and undertaken. The main mission of the Zululand Trail is to create diverse practical and mutually beneficial access points to establish and promote a cultural exchange between Europeans and South Africans, with particular emphasis on the youth from all walks of life.
The objectives are:
- to gain direct contact with African communities living in traditional environments and relying on small scale 
farming as their main sources of livelihood;
- to impart experiences to modern-day youth and other individuals, whose origins lie in the technological western world;
- to re-define the term “development” within the concept of a mutual process of experiencing events and learning from one another;
- to assist with overcoming fears that still exist between African and European populations in a country marked by extreme confrontations.
The growing worldwide understanding during the 1980’s that “no one half of the world can exist without the other half” and the publication 'Die Zukunft in unserer Hand' assisted Hannes in his quest to develop a meaningful, mutually beneficial exchange that brings together youth from vastly different cultures and backgrounds to share lived experiences.
The continued need for an ethical, coherent and sustainable social, industrial, technological and environmental development programme for the future becomes very apparent when contrasting the needs and current development conditions in countries in the North with those in the South.