Zululand history, King Shaka, Ulundi, Eshowe and Richards Bay are some of the terms associated with thie world-renowned region of KwaZulu-Natal's Zululand.
The sheer majesty of Zululand will take your breath away. Under the hot African sun, the cobalt blue Indian Ocean, mangrove swamps and limpid lagoons give way to rolling green hills and indigenous forests which shimmer in the distance before they reach the Drakensberg Mountains.
While you are in Zululand, enjoy the welcoming wide smiles extended to you by the local people. Enjoy the comfortable accommodation in major towns, game lodges, to seashore cottages, Zulu homes or floating lake chalets.
Zululand teems with private and provincial game reserves which offer game-watching facilities as well as hiking and nature trails. But it is probably 'the Zulu experience' which will linger in your mind long after you have left Zululand.
Take an ox wagon to Zulu villages of bee-hive huts and experience traditional Zulu hospitality, or a rural wedding ceremony, and if you wish, visit a sangoma (traditional healer). You cannot leave without a visit to Ulundi, the site of the final battle fought in the Anglo-Zulu war.
Nearby, Zulu kings lie buried in the Emakhosini Valley. In total contrast are the township tours showcasing modern Zulu life including taverns, shebeens and traditional medicine shops. Further inland lie tea plantations, cattle ranches and pretty, historical towns such as Vryheid and Paulpietersburg where you can relax in the therapeutic sulphur springs.
Zululand, the heart and pulse of the Zulu Kingdom
Hotels and Tours:
Destination in Focus
Eshowe offers a unique window on history as the oldest town in Zululand, with various secret places to visit and enjoy.
The sound of the breeze rushing through the Dlinza Forest in the heart of the town is the romantic explanation for the town's name. The more scientific is that it is a corruption of the isiZulu word ishongwe, meaning 'milkbush shrubs', also prominent in the area.
The town, lying on a plateau and thus protected from the subtropical humidity of surrouding areas, was proclaimed a magistracy in 1887 upon Zululand's annexation by Britain and became the capital of Zululand.
