The Heavenly Kingdom of the Zulus. Six starting points for the first time traveller to this culturally rich region in South Africa

The warm glow of the fire accentuated the breasts of the young maidens seated alongside me. In the darkness close by, an infant suckled and the chief’s collection of beasts scratched and shuffled in their pens. The air was heavy with a primal concoction of smoke, sweat and animal. Chief Biyela, as robust as his tree stump perch, studied me as I drew the calabash of fizzy fermented traditional brew to my lips. I was first of our group to drink it, not entirely reassured even though both the chief and Madludla, his third wife, had tasted it first to check for poison.

The long draft I took of the textured, malty brew washed away the dustiness of our earlier horse ride to visit this place, Simunye, meaning “we are one”. Descending a trail rutted by pioneers nearly 200 years ago, my wife and I had watched from our mounts as the afternoon African sun retreated from the valleys spread below us, one by one drawing their day to close.

This is one of a handful of experiences in KwaZulu-Natal (or KZN for short) on the south east coast of Africa we visited to meet the Zulu, once one of the fiercest, most savage nations on earth and one that handed down to Britain its greatest military defeat ever at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879. Twenty thousand Zulus under the command of King Shaka, a great military strategist, annihilated the pride of the British army as they outmanoeuvred them using Shaka’s innovative pincer, or horns, attack.

Over a period of 11 years, Shaka unified most of the Nguni clans in the region into a powerful empire, giving them his personal clan name of Biyela and calling his kingdom KwaZulu – Place of the People of the Heavens. Few would argue with him – this region, roughly the size of Britain, ranges from pristine tropical coastline across lush farmlands to mighty mountains that touch the sky over 3000 metres high.

Although Shaka met a violent end with his murder in 1828 at kwaDukuza (now the town of Stanger) and the heart of Zulu influence shifted north, his dynasty lives on. Today the Zulu people still live in a monarchy under King Goodwill Zwelithini, the 9th in a succession of Kings that began in 1781 with King Senzagakhana, the predescessor to King Shaka.

Conflict and adversity are recurring themes in South African history; however, this multicultural cauldron has now cooled to a soothing warmth. Tourism is booming (now South Africa’s largest industry) as locals realize the benefits of showcasing their rich traditional heritage and warmly welcoming the world.

Ukhozi oluZulayo oluBambayo is a Zulu saying that means ‘Only the wandering eagle catches fine prey”. With this in mind our journey explored six destinations suiting varying tastes and travel plans, but all within a half to three hours of Durban – air- and seaport gateway to the region.

Offering visits ranging from a couple of hours to one or two night stays, each provides a thorough insight into the Zulu traditional way of life, including tastes of history, dance, music, explanations of the way of life, layout of the kraal (settlement), traditional medicine, weapon making, crafts and their food and drink.

KwaZulu-Natal is an area rich in history and alive with culture and natural beauty to reward the inquisitive visitor and advanced student. To this day 10 000 virgins parade each year in the dignified Royal Reed Dance when they commit themselves to virginity until marriage, some Zulus wear tartan fabric in honour of their foe, messages are woven into their intricately patterned beadwork, and brides symbolically carry a spear, a lantern and a leopard skin.

We found that these are just snippets of the rich landscape of KwaZulu – Place of the People of the Heavens…


THE KINGDOM MANOR – from 2 hours visit to overnight stay
Where cultures clashed

The late afternoon sun highlighted the dips and sweeps of the sugar cane plantations spreading to the horizon as I sipped my gin and tonic. Viewing this tableau framed by the white stuccoed veranda pillars, manicured gardens and surrounding colonial splendour, I wondered what emotions would have seethed here 150 years ago? Firstly, amongst the Zulus as their landscape was tamed around them, the abundant game that roamed the gentle hills impudently plundered and decimated and replaced by crops, and then amongst the Indian slaves as their toil and sweat made white men wealthy. We were soon to find out.

The Kingdom Manor, once a sugar cane estate and still surrounded by soft expanses of the cane fields that blanket much of the region, was built between 1904 and 1924, and represents a microcosm of the history of KZN. A history that is brought back to life in the museum and auditorium built around the original work sheds of this estate.

KwaZulu-Natal, was previously the province of Natal, and proclaimed a British colonial territory in 1839. With its fertile low lying land basking in a subtropical climate, it became a flourishing sugar producing region, but not without a fair measure of human suffering.

Our host, Xolani Emmanuel Mkhize, his middle name reflective of missionary influence, told us in detail about the confluence of the three cultures 150 years ago in this area and around this farm named Flagstaff which was established in 1878.

The opulent grandeur of the colonial (and in places somewhat eclectic and curious) architecture of The Kingdom Manor belies the misery and suffering of over 6000 indentured Indian labourers shipped to Natal between 1860 and 1866 to work the sugar cane fields. The system was abandoned in the colony in 1907 and many of them chose to stay on and work the farm, building a happy community with many of its descendants living in the region today.

Here at the Kingdom Manor, one can follow the history of its Zulu and Indian community, including part of the trail trod by that great visionary and pacifist Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi. Visitors stay in the Indian slave quarters that have now been converted into stylish and somewhat less humble dwellings than for their original dwellers.

The audio visual that evokes the dramas of the last two centuries becomes more real when one meets Induna (chief) Zwelithini Mpanza, whose ancestors vanquished at Isandlwana, and he proudly displays his inherited stabbing spear. Used by his forefathers in the 1879 battle, it no doubt still carries forensic traces of Her Majesty’s troops’ blood, giving evidence to how many died by this weapon. Known in Zulu as iklwa, its name is derived from the sucking sound as the long blade is withdrawn from the victim.

Today, the only conflict one may experience is choosing which dishes to sacrifice from the spread making up the tri-cultural feast.

SIMUNYE – 24 to 48 hours stay
Where time slows to an ancient rhythm

“Sikhulekile Ekhaya”, I shouted from the kraal entrance. The tall branchwork walls of the umuzi tracing long shadow lines on the dusty earth as the dawn sun forced its way through the early morning mist lazing in the Mfuli Valley. My customary request to enter the home of Chief Biyela did not fall on deaf ears, and soon the squawking of chickens announced his approach, all portly, rotund and stretching away the sleep with his many wives.

This is the territory of the Biyela tribe, blood relatives of the Zulu monarchy. During his reign, King Dingaan fell in love with the beautiful daughter of his brother, so he expelled his brother and his entire family, calling them “Biyela”, which means the protectors. With her having a new surname, the king could marry her and thus the new Biyela dynasty was born, which to this day carries the praise name “Ndabesitha” which means “Your Highness”.

Simunye offers probably the most authentic of the six experiences, heightened by the slow transition as one descends into the Njomelwane valley, transported into a different world. Here, Zulu culture remains true to itself and time unwinds from 21st century freneticism to an ancient rhythm.

Surprisingly, Simunye has a history of co-existence and friendship in a region with so much history of conflict between nations. Before the Anglo Zulu War of 1879, early pioneer traders and transport riders befriended their Zulu neighbours, creating friendships that have endured generations. Hence the name Simunye, meaning “We are one”.

This is one of the projects undertaken by Barry Leach and Kingsley Holgate, both accomplished scholars of Zulu culture and affectionately known as White Zulus in the area. The venture has the blessing of the Patriarch Prince, Gilenya Biyela, somewhat ironically, as his forbear, Mkhosana, led the Zulu regiment that inflicted defeat on the British at Isandlwana.

On our arrival the previous afternoon we had found respite in the rough built stone dwellings hidden in the thick vegetation of the sheer cliff. Each room is unique, built instinctively and metamorphosing out of the jungle tangled on the rock face. These provide a magical, at times primal and earthy sanctuary as evening sets in.

No piped music with dinner here. We satisfied our hearty appetites with traditional Phuthu (maize meal similar to polenta) and isitshulu senyama (curried meat stew) to the sounds and sights of Ngoma (traditional dancing) on a wood and stone riverside deck. Coffee and folklore followed, punctuated by a crackling log fire and the sounds of night descending on Africa.

Allow time for the journey to Simuyne which has much beauty to offer, winding through the Melmoth valley with its fields and rows of orange groves, pine forests and sugar cane. It is clear when taking in this fertile spectacle why Umgungundlovo, the site of king Dingaan’s royal kraal, and Ulundi, the site of Cetshwayo’s military kraal, are located nearby.

The Simunye expedition begins at the trading store either at 11.30 am or 4.30 pm daily, returning to civilization (there’s little electricity or mobile signal at Simunye) each day around mid morning. For the more energetic and adventurous groups, there’s team building with wagon pioneering (span in some of your team members to pull the wagon – if they can!), Shaya ukhamba (hit the clay pot while being distracted by opposing team members), play tug-o-war against the oxen and Zulu stick fighting.

SHAKALAND – from 2 hours visit to overnight stay
Lights, cameras, action

I spat on the small rock, its colour mottled tan and umber by my saliva in the bright African sun and tossed it onto the pile on the Isivanini. This would gain the protection of my spirit as I walked these dusty paths, watched from high on the hill behind me by the silhouette of Shaka’s memorial. Was that slight chill I felt on my neck just the stirring the wind or his spirit?

This is the valley of the Mhlatuze River, steeped in the history of the amaZulu, and an appropriate home to Shakaland, situated just a few miles from the site of Shaka’s great military kraal, Kwabulawayo. Shakaland was built in 1984 as the set for the made for TV series Shaka Zulu featuring Michael Caine and Edward Fox, but this is no longer an artificial film set with misleading facades. The sights, sounds and smells are all real, and the village is another testament to the efforts of Leach and Holgate, who raised the necessary finance to buy from the farmer the land the film set was built on to preserve the village. Some of the best dancers, warriors and craftsmen who starred in the TV series, were then kept employed.

Most of the Zulus from the early days of the project still work here, now with their offspring part of this living demonstration of the Zulu culture. Today, eighty families benefit from Shakaland.

Shakaland now includes a hotel made up of numerous well appointed rondavels, and runs the Zulu culture programmes daily at 11 and 12am for day visitors and 4pm for overnight guests with more after breakfast the next morning, finishing at 10.30am.

When it’s show time, (daytime or after a dinner of Zulu traditional and English for the overnighters), praise singers lead visitors through the kraal to the chief’s main hut Indlu ka Gogo where it’s lights, action, cameras, with more than a hint of big screen theatrics bringing Zulu culture to life.

VULA ZULU – 2 to 3 hours visit
The bush lives again

If the tha-thump, tha-thump of the distant drums in the bush had not already created gooseflesh then the next event would. Suddenly to the left, the right, behind us, the air erupted with animal skins, glinting steel and oiled muscle as twenty warriors exploded from the bush, surrounding and trapping us where we stood. For a moment I imagined the bowel-evacuating terror that would have seized a naïve Sandhurst cadet as 20 000 screaming warriors crested the hills surrounding Isandlwana.

This stirring performance is thanks in part to the theatrics of John Niewoudt, who has used his years of experience as a dancer to create a moving experience that, as he puts it, “touches all the senses”, and a credit to the locals, whose passion for their rich culture has been re-ignited.

Niewoudt makes the most of the bush setting, with nothing artificial about the sangoma (traditional healer) or the dust kicked up by the Zulu impi. Even when it is narrated by Muzi Mhlongo, who tells us over lunch that he plans to further his education (which until recently was at the local Sipho Sadadletshe High School, which he proudly says has one of the highest pass rates in the country), to a civil engineering degree, and that we all need to acknowledge the higher powers of positive thinking.

Vula Zulu is part of an initiative of Thanda Private Game Reserve – the only game reserve that is a member of the elite ‘Leading Hotels of the World”, reserved for just 400 of the world’s finest properties, and which lists such luminaries as The Mount Nelson in Cape Town and The Palace of the Lost City an hour from Johannesburg.

The Zulu word for ‘love’, Thanda has lived up to its name. It has initiated the restoration of overgrazed land in the area into game habitat and consciously contributed to the sustainment of the culture and its people by supporting the local community.

Vula Zulu is ideal for visitors staying at nearby game lodges, whether it’s at the exquisite Thanda or elsewhere, and it offers shows with or without meals.

Lunch time shows are at 11h30 and 14h30 and evening/dinner shows at 18h30.


DUMAZULU – 2 hours visit to 2 day stay
Culture in the midst of the Big Five

Briefly the aromatic smoke cleared and for an instant the induna’s eyes met mine through the haze. But perhaps I was wrong, and it was just an unseeing look of deep satisfaction. A look that said here is a man who enjoys his job – demonstrating the ingundu, otherwise known as the dagga pipe.

We were in the living village of Dumazulu, meaning the thundering Zulu, set in the heart of the game country of northern KwaZulu-Natal, where the induna and his tribe contentedly share their inherited culture with visitors.

Dumazulu was established in 1994 by world renowned and respected anthropologist the late Graham Stewart, who nearly forty years ago was one of the first to showcase the Zulu’s rich culture. Stewart’s wife Beverly is still partly involved by running the curio shop, while locally recruited guides keep alive his vision of preserving this rich heritage.

This is the only cultural kraal to be personally opened by a Zulu king, the incumbent his majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu - a direct descendant of King Shaka Zulu - thus bestowing a great honour on the kraal and the Royal Zulu seal on its authenticity and objectives.

Conveniently located between the famous Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, Mkuzi and St Lucia game parks, Dumazulu is a popular stay over for European groups seeking great value and a base to explore this abundant Big Five territory. Besides the big five nearby, one can also take in Dumazulu’s reptile park which includes most of the major indigenous snakes and African crocodiles.

The day ends with a dinner of traditional food, serenaded by a bevy of bare breasted maidens, and it’s off to bed in the lodge’s interesting accommodation – two circular groups of rondavels representing the different tribes of Southern Africa, the formations in keeping with African living tradition, but with all the mod cons.

PHEZULU – 2 hours to a day
Into the Valley of 1000 Hills

Bongani watched quietly from the shade of the tamboti tree on the river bank, well away from any treacherous crocodiles that sometimes loitered near its edge. The poison soaked grass that he had strewn on the surface slowly changed colour as it dampened with the water. He had chosen his spot carefully where the river lazily pooled away from the mainstream and time did not matter. From here he could still throw a stick into the angry Umgeni, watching it carried off as the torrent hesitatingly twisted, rushed, paused and sometimes cascaded down rocky drops to fume and boil in narrow gorges before continuing its journey from mountains to sea.

The sun crept across the sky as the grass grew heavy and disappeared beneath the surface. Closing his eyes, the sounds of the crickets and frogs serenading each other in the thick reeds and bush nearby, he mused how the sangoma had taught him well. Pierce the soft hide of the cactus trees that grew bigger than elephants, being careful to protect his eyes and genitals, then collect the milky toxic sap that oozed freely from the wound. Mix this lethal mixture with shreds of grass and scatter it on the quiet, deep pool in the river where it would sink down to the fish that sought the safety of the deep water, delivering its fatal poison. Before long they would float to the surface to be easily collected. Later the kitchen hut would fill with sweet aromas of Mama Magasa cooking the fish in some sheep’s mafuta (fat) to be served with umfino (Zulu spinach) and amadumbes (wild potato), being certain to cook the fish through to destroy the toxins.

This was the scenario I imagined at Phezulu Safari Park with the Valley of 1000 Hills stretched out before me, resonating to the same sounds of crickets singing in the bush. Lionel Crow, self taught traditional botanist and bush ranger, was explaining how the Zulus had learned to use milk from the Euphorbia Ingens of the species Euphorbiceae (a cactus plant in appearance) to catch fish. Now illegal, one is unlikely to witness this practice today, even here in these secretive valleys where shards of sheep and goat bones remind one that leopard still freely prey, and where one may see male black mamba snakes that stretch taller than a man, as they battle each other on the rocky outcrops for alpha male status by impressing an equally lethal female audience draped in the surrounding trees.

The fascinating insights to be gleaned on a bush drive or walk with Crow seem endless. While antelope and monkeys forage in the nearby bush, we learn of the uses of malpitte (mad seeds) Datura Stamonium, with their hallucinogenic atropine and hyosine; the castor oil plant, from which is extracted the lethal ricinus - a difficult to detect poison that causes heart failure and has been used by perhaps more assassins than we know; the more benign fever tea bush, Lippia Javanica; and the laxative poison apple, Solanum Aculeastrum.

This wilderness is located half way between Durban and Pietermaritzburg on the old road to the hinterland, surprisingly only minutes from the nearest suburbia of Hillcrest, but worlds apart. Locals and the reserve owners are working together to restore the natural biodiversity in this haven for many restricted species.

A long term, multi million dollar programme is in place to eradicate alien plants like the pretty but invasive lantana bush and the giant and thirsty eucalyptus -brought here from the Australian outback over a century ago as a fast growing source of mine tunnel props. One tree will put any beer drinker to shame as this insatiable colossus drinks 300 litres of water a day.

This gem of an area was nearly lost to high density, low cost housing, but thanks to the vision, cooperation and influence of the area’s patriarch, Chief Mlaba, petty theft and poaching which hindered the project are now things of the past. Chief Mlaba is the nephew of Mayor Obed Mlaba of the nearby metropolis of Durban.

For the visitor with only a few hours to spare, this area close to Durban (and doesn’t require malaria prevention) offers more than a taste of Africa. Half an hour after completing Phezulu’s bush excursion and experiencing the spectacle of traditional dancing against the backdrop of the Valley of 1000 Hills, one can be at Tala, a 3000ha nature reserve packed with game. In a sixty minute game drive, there’s a good chance of seeing white rhino, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and hippo.

Precede this with a light snack meal at Phezulu, or save the appetite for a more elaborate spread of local cuisine at Tala before taking in the game. One could overnight at Tala and leave from here to explore the Midlands, Lesotho, the Battlefields or the Drakensberg mountains – all an hour or two away. Or head back to Durban via the nearby Hillcrest and Kloof, which abounds with fine restaurants such as Aubergine or Sprigs.





…each night, as we drift off to sleep in hand built stone huts or Indian slave quarters featuring luxuries that early inhabitants could never have dreamt of, I ponder. The Zulus we have encountered are a mere handful of generations descended from those ruthless warriors that slaughtered the British and others whose paths they crossed. Is it the remoteness from these events brought by the passing of time, the heady sustenance that soothes my belly or their sincere, welcoming smiles that tranquillises me into restful sleep in this place of the people of the heavens?