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KZN - Zululand Routes |
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Since the beginning of the 17th century what we now know as Zululand has been home to the eastern Nguni people - a linguistic and cultural group comprising 800 different tribes and clans, of which the Zulu themselves were originally a minor segment. The story of the Zulu In 1816 Shaka, a young general in the army of Dingiswayo, leader of the powerful Mthethwa group, succeeded to the Zulu chieftainship - not perhaps the most promising of offices since his people numbered just 1,500 or so at the time. But his genius, and the ruthless discipline he imposed from the start, quickly transformed his new domain. Shaka's first priority was the reorganisation of his tiny army, its weapons and its fighting skills. He replaced the rather useless throwing spear with the long-bladed, short-handled stabbing assegai, which forced warriors into close combat. He forbade the wearing of sandals, which inhibited movement. He refined the age-graded regimental system, known as the AmaButho, which other Nguni groups to the north had introduced with success, so that his soldiers now lived with men their own age, in their own quarters, each regiment boasting its own 'uniform' of markings and regalia - a major source of group pride and healthy rivalry. Finally, he developed the famed Zulu battle formation. The regiments in the field, collectively called the impi, were divided into four sections to represent the rough shape of an ox; the powerful most of them (the 'chest') clashing head-on with the enemy force, while the second and third (the 'horns') flanked and encircled it. The fourth section remained in reserve, entering the fray as shock reinforcements, and mopping up afterwards. Moreover, Shaka fought, not just to win, but to exterminate - a brand new approach to warfare which, until then, often consisted of virtually bloodless encounters (rather like the jousts of medieval Europeans), amounting to little more than the symbolic exchange of throwing spears following which the weaker force retired honourably from the field. Before the end of the first year the Zulu army had grown fourfold, and it quickly overcame the small neighbouring clans - among them the Langeni who, during Shaka's childhood, had inflicted bitter humiliation on him and his beloved mother Nandi (his special Langeni enemies were impaled on the stakes of their own kraal fences). The Zulu impis then went on to conquer the powerful Ndwandwe and Qwabe peoples and the confederation of Nguni clans to the south. Their lands were devastated, villages put to the torch, the survivors to flight or capture. Shaka's legendary military exploits were confined largely to the coastal plain, but they had a ripple-like effect that spread with terrible force to engulf the entire subcontinent - a hugely disruptive, and destructive, domino sequence known as the Mfecane (or Defacane in the Sotho language). The unquestioned power of the Zulu, however, was to remain short-lived. The first white colonists had arrived in 1824, established a trading post at Port Natal (later renamed Durban CLICK). The newcomers, British for the most part, were received with surprising tolerance, mainly because they were small in number and peaceful by inclination (and one of them, Henry Fynn, impressed Shaka with his medical skills). Far more threatening were the Dutch-speaking Voortrekkers who came, in the 1830s, intent on large-scale settlement. Against these, Shaka's successor, Dingane, fought a bloody but in the end unsuccessful war, suffering a devastating defeat at the battle of Blood River in December 1838. Shortly afterwards, Dingane's half-brother Mpande invaded the Zulu kingdom and, with trekker help, established himself as king (or paramount chief). Mpande ruled for 32 years, during which period the Zulu, now confined to the regions north of the Tugela River, lost much of their authority, and more of their lands, to the encroaching white settlers. The decline became a rout during the latter part of the 19th century. In 1879 the British, determined on creating a confederation in Southern Africa, and conscious of the threat posed to their comfortable schemes by a still-powerful, independent Zulu nation, manufactured 'complaints' against the entirely innocent Zulu king Cetshwayo, invaded his country and, after suffering a humiliating defeat at Isandlwana, crushed the Zulu army at Ulundi (see Battlefields Route). They then divided Zululand into 13 fragments and, in the decades that followed, systematically reduced the Zulu to impotence. Zululand was annexed to Britain in 1887, and incorporated into the colony of Natal ten years later. In 1906 a section of the people rose in revolt, but the episode - the so-called Bambata Rebellion - was only a flicker of the flame that once burned so brightly, and it was quickly extinguished. During the latter part of the 20th century Zululand was declared a major segment of the Zulu 'homeland' of KwaZulu, a semi-independent 'national state' established within the framework of the Nationalist government's 'Grand Apartheid' programme. It is now an integral part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Much remains of the Zulu cultural heritage, especially in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. But the legacy - certainly the more visible elements of dress, ceremony and lifestyle - is fast disappearing, consigned to the past by the onslaught of urbanisation and the wholesale adoption of Western ways. The abstracts - religious belief, and the concepts underlying marriage, the family, land, kinship, authority, wealth and so on - are proving more durable. In view of the changing scene, however, the following brief description is presented largely in the past tense. In traditional Zulu society the men hunted, fought and guarded the livestock; the women tilled the land, cared for the children, fetched water, gathered precious firewood, cooked and cleaned; the young boys herded cattle. Cattle, in fact, represented wealth (and still do to a degree), and were used to for the bride-price (lobola, paid by the groom's family) in arranged marriages. Animal hides and pelts provided clothing materials in the old days, the costumes of the men adorned in various ways to distinguish the age-graded regiments, the 'uniform' enhanced by patterned ox-hide shields and plumes (though married men, the respected seniors, wore a simple head-ring). Beads are also a striking feature of costume, though oddly enough they are a relatively recent accessory to Nguni costume. When the first white traders arrived, in the early 1800s, the beads they offered as 'currency' quickly caught on, stitched together in intricate patterns, each colour and design taking on symbolic significance - blue for affection, for example (though the precise 'language' of the beads varies from clan to clan). Music was inseparable from celebration in Nguni society. The Zulu people (in common with most other indigenous folk) have a natural aptitude for harmony and spontaneous song. The main musical instruments were the cowhide drum - though rattles, reed pipes and whistles also featured - and, most notably, the human voice, used in magnificent choral fashion at mass weddings, other joyful occasions and as a prelude to battle, and invariably accompanied by the synchronised stamping of feet. The Zulu language, one of the huge number of Bantu tongues, is complex, musical, subtle, highly expressive, full of imagery, and contains those 'click' sounds that non-indigenous folk find so difficult to master. They were not, in fact, part of the original Nguni or even Bantu linguistic tradition, but were borrowed from Bushman (or San) speech. Traditional Zulu religious belief, like that of most of the black peoples of Southern Africa (and elsewhere on the continent) is animistic; conviction credits such natural features and objects as a river, a mountain, a rock, a tree, a lake, with a personality (or 'soul') of its own. Secondly, it is believed that an enormously powerful, albeit impersonal, force called Nkulunkulu ('the great, great one') watches over the community. More personal and immediate are the ancestral spirits, who look after the people's day-to-day welfare. The fourth element in traditional Zulu belief is the diviner, or sangoma, who acts as interpreter, a kind of middle-man between the ancestral spirits and their living descendants, and is able to diagnose and predict a wide variety of ills, many of them of the psychological and social kind. The sangoma is called to his profession by the ancestors, and receives rigorous training from his mentor, an older and experienced diviner. Today the majority of Zulu belong to the Christian faith, but traditional convictions remain profoundly influential. The two bodies of belief appear to co-exist comfortably. ZULULANDThe countryside stretching north from the Tugela River to the border of Swaziland and the region known as Maputaland is the traditional home of the Zulu people (see Zulu Legacy). It also ranks among Southern Africa's premier tourism areas and, if ambitious plans are realised, will become one of the world's foremost eco-tourism destinations. It has everything - a culture based on a colourful and often dramatic past, scenic beauty, abundant wildlife and some of the Earth's most precious, and most attractive, wetlands. Zululand - the name is an informal one, defined by language and heritage rather than by any strict boundaries - is a region of beautiful hills and valleys, flanked in the east by flattish coastal terraces that, for much of the year, are heat-hazed and tropically humid. The higher ground of the interior, though, is cooled by the rising sea air and moistened by the mists it brings, and by good rains that enrich the grasslands and nurture the perennial rivers. This is a luxuriant part of the country, one that sustains a superb diversity of wild animals, birds, trees and flowering plants. Indeed the Zululand conservation areas are some of the most impressive in Africa: warmth, moisture and the richness of the vegetation provide ideal habitats for a quite astonishing diversity of life forms. The Hluhluwe-Umfolozi park, for example, is little more than a tenth of the size of the famed Kruger national park but contains about 80 percent of the Kruger's species. Among the region's other and many attractions are the distinctive traditions and lifestyles of the rural people; splendid wilderness trails, diving and angling among the beautiful offshore coral reefs (the world most southern), and superb opportunities for photography, hunting and much else. Greater St Lucia Recently declared a World heritage Site, one of three such in South Africa at the time of writing (the other two are Cape Town's Robben Island, and the Sterkfontein cave complex west of Pretoria-Johannesburg). The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park is one of the biggest, most varied and ecologically most remarkable land, lake and marine wildernesses on the continent of Africa, a 280,000-hectare sequence of lake, lagoon, estuary, pan, marshland, sand forest, vegetated dune (among the world's highest), game reserve, golden beach and offshore coral reef. All these different components are interrelated; together, they form a coherent ecosystem. The consolidated park extends well beyond the areas covered in our map, stretching north across Maputaland to the Mozambique border, and there are ambitious, exciting plans to extend both its area and its infrastructure, within a scheme known as the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative, to create one of the world's most splendid eco-tourism destinations. At present, its more prominent elements are: St Lucia lake This large body of water is in fact a series of lagoons stretching up from the estuary to the 25-kilometre long False Bay section in the north. The waters are rather salty in the south, fresh in the north, shallow (just a metre deep on average), pristine, beautiful, home to around 600 hippos (usually seen around the estuary), to crocodiles, to fish, crabs and a myriad other crustaceans and to a great concourse of birds. The latter include flocks of pelicans, twelve species of heron, flamingos, spoonbills, Caspian terns, a breeding community of African fish eagles and much else. Surrounding the lake is St Lucia park, a one-kilometre wide protective strip providing sanctuary to the animal and plant life of the reedbeds, marshland, woodland and grassland of the lakeshore, and home to (among others) the shaggy-coated nyala, to red duiker and shy suni, reedbuck, bushpig and vervet monkey. Equally attractive and well endowed is False Bay park, to the west of the bay and haven for various antelope species and to some 150 different kinds of bird. The park offers a small rest-camp; the area is popular among fishermen and bird-watchers; pink-backed pelicans are a feature of the wildlife. St Lucia Estuary The village is a busy little place of hotels, holiday homes, guest-houses, shops, garages, eateries, a swimming beach and boat-hire enterprises. Lake cruises depart from here, as do guided tours of the various parks and reserves, including the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi complex to the west (see further on). Worth visiting is the local craft market. A convenient and pleasant base from which to explore the surrounding area. Mkuzi game reserve This spacious expanse of grassland, evergreen forest and marshland to the north of the lake (and an integral part of the Greater St Lucia complex) is famed for its plant life, prominent in which are the ghostly yellow-green fever trees and giant, gnarled sycamore figs. It's also home to more than 300 bird species, many of which can be seen on and around the Nsumu and other pans (Nsumu is the only breeding site in the country for pink-backed pelicans). The latter are shallow lakelets, around which viewing hides have been established. Game animals include the rare black rhino, white rhino, giraffe, leopard and cheetah, crocodile, hippo, wildebeest, eland and other antelope. Self-catering accommodation is available in the attractive Mantuma and Nhlonhela camps; the latter is especially notable for its open-sided dining enclosure and observation platform, which overlooks a game-rich pan. On offer are game-viewing drives, auto trail Tewate wilderness Once named and still informally known as Cape Vidal, an unpoilt, wooded dune area popular among hikers and bird-watchers. In residence are buffalo, kudu, black rhino and other mammals plus an attractive array of birds Marine reserve The coastal belt and the offshore waters from Sit Lucia Estuary right up north to the Mozambique border are a proclaimed conservation area (see also Maputaland, which encompasses and the lake areas of Sibaya and Kosi Bay). The seaboard is fringed by beaches and, offshore, the world's southernmost coral reefs; the sands are strictly protected along most stretches; the sea is warm, blue, crystal clear, full of colourful marine life and a delight to snorklers, scuba-divers and big-game fishermen (fine catches of blue and black marlin, tuna and sailfish are routinely recorded). Sodwana Bay This smallish area, termed a 'national park', is the most-visited spot in the entire region, host in the summer months to great numbers of holidaymakers of the most casual kind. It offers log cabins, campsites, supermarket, community centre, sheltered beach, and, for the hordes of anglers that throng its precincts, freezers and fish-weighing points. The surrounding countryside, though, is quite different in character, a place of marshland and pans together with the birds and animals these attract. On offer, here and elsewhere, are nighttime 'turtle tours' (see below). Turtle sanctuary During the summer months scores of giant sea turtles - 500-kilogram loggerheads and leatherbacks - crawl out of the Indian Ocean at night to lay their eggs on the beaches of the Zululand seaboard. They have swum immense distances to get here, some coming from as far away as Kenya's Malindi area, a good 3,500 kilometres to the north. Their presence represents a signal victory for conservation. The sea-turtle is one of God's gentlest creatures, slow-moving, vulnerable, but it has survived, even flourished in its present form for more than 100 million years - until recent times. Valued by Man for their meat, eggs and the oil in their bodies (and their shells for ornamentation), these ponderous ocean-living reptiles were killed off in their thousands and by the 1960s were well on their way to regional extinction. Then the Natal Parks Board (NPB, since renamed the KwaZulu-Natal Conservation Service) stepped in, mounted intensive shore patrols, released large numbers of tagged hatchlings and drew the local African communities into the effort. The result has been gratifying: in the decades since, turtles have been returning to the area in increasing numbers. Visitors to the Sodwana area (see above) can see some of the results of the rescue operation on organised night-drives. The turtles' breeding cycle is quite remarkable. Though they travel thousands of kilometres, they unerringly home in on the precise stretch of sand on which they themselves were born - which, in the case of some individuals, can be half a century ago and more. It is believed that the male arrives first; mating takes place a little way offshore, and the female then finds her way through the reefs and the intertidal zone to the beach in search of a scent, a distinctive smell that surrounded her when she herself was a hatchling, and which was programmed into her impulse mechanism. When she finds a safe spot she digs a hole and drops her clutch of about 100 eggs into it, covers and carefully disguises the nest and then, exhausted, retreats back to the sea. The hatchlings emerge, after a 70-day incubation period, at nighttime to brave the ghost crabs of the beach and plunge into an even more predator-infested ocean. Only one in every 500 that reach the sea, it is thought, will survive to come back as an adult. Zululand offers much else, beyond the present boundaries of the Greater St Lucia Wetland complex, to offer in the way of wilderness areas and their life forms. Some will be incorporated into the expanded area; among the more notable are: Hluhluwe-Umfolozi park This splendid sanctuary (the first part of the name is pronounced 'Shloo-shloo-wee') combines two of Africa's oldest conservancies (they were born in 1897). The two sections are somewhat different in character; Hluhluwe is the smaller, a stunningly beautiful expanse of grass-covered hills, misty woodlands and dense riverine forest that combine to support more than 80 different kinds of mammal, including the 'big five' (elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard) and about 425 bird species. For visitors, there's the largish, comfortable Hilltop rest-camp plus a lodge and a bush-camp, an auto-trail and a wilderness trail. The Umfolozi section, some 50,000 hectares in extent, sprawls across sweet grassland, well-watered savanna countryside and lush floodplain. Its wildlife complement is much the same as Hluhluwe's; accommodation is available in hutted and bush camps. Ndumo game reserve Set in the north; a bird-lovers paradise and quite beautiful in its tropical lushness; the reserve is destined to be included in the Greater St Lucia complex. See Maputaland. Tembe Elephant park Close to the Mozambique border, and a refuge for the tuskers that survived the disruptions triggered by that country's civil war in the 1970s and 1980s. Tembe and Ndumo (see above) will probably be combined within the wider environmental scheme. Pongola River A major watercourse and dam (the Pongolapoort), the former flowing close to Swaziland's southern border before turning north through the Ndumo game reserve and into Mozambique. The countryside is largely given over to the cultivation of sugarcane and subtropical fruits. The village of Pongola lies to the west, Jozini just to the east, of the dam, which is surrounded by an 11,600-hectare 'public resort nature reserve', an enterprise still under development. Game is being introduced; the dam attracts a fine variety of water-related birds, together with anglers in quest of the sporting tigerfish. Much older (in fact Africa's oldest: it dates back to 1894) is the Pongola nature reserve, a rugged, 10,000-hectare sanctuary for some rare types of plant and for rhino, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest and various antelope. Poaching, though, has made inroads into the wildlife. The third major component of this attractive region is the private Pongolapoort Bio Reserve, 31,000 hectares in extent, which offers two lodges, game drives, trails, tracking forays, cruises on river and dam, and canoeing safaris. Itala game reserve Also on the Pongola but farther upstream, to the west, a splendid 30,000-hectare expanse of strikingly varied countryside. Here the land falls steeply, and spectacularly, from the highveld plateau into the Nqubu basin, cliffs and rocky, forest-clad slopes giving way, suddenly and dramatically, to hilly grasslands that are often bright with aloes, and to bushveld, scented acacia thornveld and woodland savanna. This is ideal terrain for viewing and photographing the wildlife complement, which includes among its 80 mammal species such notables as black rhino, buffalo, elephant, giraffe, zebra, leopard, cheetah, brown hyaena, wildebeest, crocodile, and a splendid array of antelope, among them South Africa's largest population of the nimble, rock-loving klipspringer. Lovely waterfalls are a feature of the streams that flow into the Pongola. Itala boasts a fine rest-camp, called Ntshwondwe, which is set high up against the western escarpment, together with three secluded bush camps. The smaller reserves There are many of these, both private (see further on) and public. Foremost among the latter are the Enseleni, in the Richards Bay-Empangeni area (game animals in tropical surrounds; recommended is the Swamp trail); the Umlalazi, on the coast, 35 kilometres south of Empangeni (a beautiful sanctuary, noted for its birds, butterflies, monkeys, and for mangrove swamps that nurture the land-living mudskipper fish among much else, plus a popular beach), and the Windy Ridge game park, which is sanctuary for rhino, giraffe, antelope and a diversity of birds (it also offers two attractive rest-camps). In the general area of Eshowe you'll find the Ocean View and Entumeni reserves, the latter noted especially for its colourful bird life. Private reserves Visitors have a choice of an impressive number and variety of privately run sanctuaries and lodges, each with its own character, pretty well all of them enabling one to experience the African wilderness in comfort, even luxury. They offer good food, personalised service, conducted game walks and drives, trips farther afield, and some fine bird-watching. Many are in the Hluhlue village area, close to the main park, as are several game ranches and farms together with some excellent hotels, guest-houses and self-catering establishments. Among the biggest and best known is the Phinda resource reserve, a large area of bush, forest, palm-veld, wetland and river well stocked with game animals. The reserve is termed a 'resource' because it brings the local African community into the conservation scheme, and thus shares the wealth created by tourism. Phinda guests, many of them keen overseas eco-tourists, have the choice of two imaginatively designed and beautifully appointed 'camps' (Forest Lodge and Mountain Lodge). Other prominent private wildernesses are Bonamanzi game park (tree-houses, bush camp, lodge) and Bushlands game lodge (raised log cabins). Richards Bay The region's biggest town, and (in volume throughput terms) the subcontinent's biggest harbour. The bay offers splendid opportunities for leisure and recreation, among them beaches, watersports, facilities for game-fishing, and warm blue waters that are safe for bathing. The lagoon and surrounds is a proclaimed nature reserve (in residence are hippo, crocodile and aquatic birds). Richards Bay is a convenient and comfortable base from which you can visit the Greater St Lucia wetland park (see above). Empangeni A pleasantly tropical town, set on the Mpangeni River (the name is taken from the mpange trees that fringe its banks) a short distance inland from Richards Bay and centre of lush lands that sustain sugarcane, cotton, timber, cattle. It's close to the attractive Enseleni nature reserve (see Smaller Reserves above); well worth visiting in town is Empangeni Arts and Cultural museum (displays include Zulu heritage art), the Jabulani crafts enterprise, and the nearby Felixton sugar mill, the country's largest. Empangeni is home to the university of Zululand. Eshowe Very much part of the Zulu legacy, Eshowe was founded in 1860 by Cetshwayo (then heir-apparent to the Zulu throne) and for a time (from 1887), served as the Zulu capital. Among its more attractive features is the Dlinza forest reserve, a pleasant 200-hectare patch of indigenous woodland that occupies part of the town and its immediate surrounds; walks and trails have been laid out; the bird life is prolific; the natural ampitheatre, known as Bishop's Seat, is used for religious services, nativity plays and ceremonies. Worth visiting are KwaBuluwayo, the 'place of persecution' (a reference to Shaka Zulu's unhappy childhood; the 'kraal' could accommodate up to 12,000 warriors); Coward's Bush (where defeated soldiers were executed); the Beau Geste-type, three-turreted Fort Nonqayi, now the Zulu historical museum, and the Vukani museum, where you'll find splendid examples of local pottery, beadwork and other crafts. Fairly close to town is the Ocean View game park and Entumeni nature reserve (see Smaller Reserves above). In the Nkwaleni valley between Eshowe and Melmoth are three privately run cultural centres, among them the well-known Shakaland (see below). Shakaland This privately run hotel-cum-cultural complex or 'living museum', which originally featured in the television epics Shaka Zulu and John Ross, lies about 20 kilometres from Eshowe; visitors stay in one of the hotel's 100-plus beehive huts (which are in fact well appointed, with all the modern conveniences), sample Zulu food and drink, watch traditional dancing, listen to a praise singer, observe a sangoma, a herbalist and a hut-builder at work, and enjoy a variety of craft displays. Ulundi Both the traditional capital of Zululand and currently, with Pietermaritzburg, one of the two provincial capitals (its precise status is unclear at the time of writing). The town lies in the Makhosini valley ('Valley of the Kings') some 80 kilometres north of Eshowe, and it's attractions are mainly of the historical kind. The Ondini historical reserve houses a reconstruction of Cetshwayo's royal residence or 'kraal', together with a site museum and a cultural museum (beadwork features a lot). There's also the Ulundi monument, which commemorates the battle of that name in which the Cetshwayo's army was defeated with huge loss of life in 1879. You'll find the memorial and battefield north-west of town. |
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ZULULAND ROUTES Western Cape
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