KwaZulu Natal is renowned for its Game Reserves and
traditional Zulu Culture
The attractions in KwaZulu Natal (KZN)
range from vibrant cities to the gorgeous Land of a Thousand
Hills, from tranquil beaches to outstanding Game Parks and Nature
Reserves.
These are just some of the sites you
shouldn't miss:
Big Five Game Reserves (elephant,
lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino - and lots more, of course) and Travellers
volunteers are able to work in most of them, including Tembe,
Nambiti and
Mkhuze and others.
Durban (Tekweni in Zulu) lies in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, the
ancestral home of the Nguni people.
Africa's
bewitching seaside playground in the sun, Durban has from its earliest
days possessed a special charm...a certain mystique that adds 'something
extra' to the meeting of warm Indian Ocean, radiant golden sands and lush
sub-tropical greenery. The city is blessed with
balmy weather all year round, making it a perfect holiday paradise.
Durban is a major
gateway to Africa and is also the largest and busiest port city on the
continent. There is an extensive road network leading to and
from any destination in South Africa and Durban International Airport is
only a 10 minute drive from the City.
Sophisticated and cosmopolitan,
Durban Metro after dark buzzes with elegant lounges, funky taverns and
cozy inns, distinctive local theatre and live music, and trendy clubs, pubs
and discos. Rave 'till dawn and catch sunrise over the vast Indian Ocean
horizon - this is nightlife in a modern, authentic African metropolis!
Probably the first
European to have sight Durban was
Vasco De Gama on his pioneering sea voyage to India in 1497.Durban takes
its name from Sir Benjamin D'Urban, governor of the Cape Colony at the
time of the first successful colonial settlement in 1835. Since then,
Durban has been colonised by firstly Dutch and then English traders. A
large number of Indian labourers were brought to Durban during the 19th
century to farm the emerging sugar industry. With them came traders and
their ancestors form a large percentage of Durban's current population.
Pietermaritzburg (called
Maritzburg or PMB), set amidst
forested hills and rolling countryside, is one of the best-preserved
Victorian cities in the world. It has one of the best climates in the
world, with clear blue skies and warm weather virtually all year. It is
also known as the Events Capital of the country! Music and theatre
events and outdoor festivals stand next to sports and athletics events
tht take place all year round. This is a buzzing city, full of
surprises.
Shopping malls are
plentiful, but the real run comes from browsing through quaint craft
shops, discovering a cottage furniture restorer's workshop, bargaining
with a shop-owner in Failsworth Road, finding a unique gift at a flea
market, supporting a street vendor or painting up your own teaset.
The city is famous for
an incident early in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, where he was
thrown off a train for refusing to go sit in third-class seating so that
a white man could have his seat; even though the Mahatma held a valid
first-class ticket. This incident inspired Gandhi to begin his career
protesting against laws discriminating against Indians in South Africa.
Today, a bronze statue of Gandhi stands in Church Street in the city
centre.
Pietermaritzburg is also
famous for trivia, such as
the City Hall being the
largest all-brick building in the southern hemisphere
standing at 14m tall,
Pegasus, adorning the entrance of the Golden Horse Casino, is the
largest horse statue in the world
Pietermaritzburg cricket
ground is notable as one of the two grounds used regularly for
first-class cricket that have a tree within the boundary (the other
is St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, Kent).
Attractions in PMB range from
one end of the scale to other. For example, you should visit the
Tatham Art Gallery, housed in the handsome Old Supreme Court
building built in 1871. It houses beautiful beadwork and intricate
basketry and wood and bronze sculptures. There's also an impressive
collection of British and French 19th and early 20th century paintings,
including Degas, Picasso, Matisse, Hockney and Renoir.
You could follow this with a
visit to the Golden Horse Casino. Good food, good entertainment
and a good evening to be had by all.
The city is ideally placed to
visit one of the many, many Game Reserves in the region, such as Queen
Elizabeth Park, Tala, Umgeni and too many more to mention! and don't
forget the surroundings - There are numerous gorgeous waterfalls
surrounding the city that you shouldn't miss, like Howick Falls
(pictured right).
THE
ZULU CULTURE OF SOUTH AFRICA AND KZN
MINI PROJECTS & ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
South
Africa is unique in its mixture of languages, beliefs, races, colours,
creeds, traditions, the old and the new, the modern and the historic - and
just about everything else! And it is this mixture that makes it such a
wonderful country.
The people
who have had possibly the most exotic impact on the country are the Zulu.
Their history is inseparably entwined with the history of the country.
Traditions: The Zulu are a warrior nation and military might and physical courage are
celebrated in all aspects of the Zulu culture. These ideals are central to
the oral traditions and ceremonies that keep the Zulu culture alive to
this day.
Traditionally young boys learned the
art of stick fighting from an early age. Stick fighting is a unique form of martial art and requires great skill
and discipline. Fighters carry a small oxhide shield in the left hand and
a metre-long stick in the other hand. The stick
is used primarily to strike at the opponent’s head. Strength and agility
are important in winning a tournament or fight.
Dance and Music:
Social gatherings present dancers of the various clans with the opportunity of
displaying their skills and fitness while the onlookers accompany them by
playing drums, singing, whistling and ululating.
Dancing, making music and drinking traditional beer all form part of all Zulu
ceremonies, such as the celebration of the coming of age of a boy or a girl, a
marriage or a funeral. Men and boys usually perform separately from the women.
The dances of the men may reflect stylised battle movements or describe the
whipped up energy before the hunt. Women’s dances are more likely to portray a
humorous story.
Historical Background: The eastern portion of
Southern Africa, the area known as KwaZulu-Natal, was
settled at the beginning of the 17th century by the clans who would collectively
become known as the Nguni people and, individually, as the Zulu, Xhosa, Pondo
and Swazi people.
The
land they came to was a land of “milk and honey”, a fertile land with numerous rivers and
streams. Their banks were covered with fig trees so huge and dense that their boughs
touched overhead.
Every spring this lovely place erupted into colour as the extravagantly
beautiful Erythrina caffra trees started showing off their crimson flowers. Vast
numbers of antelope and other game roamed the green hills and valleys, each
having a special name - the Lion was iNgonyama (a wild beast of prey), the
Elephant was iNdlovu (the trampler) and the Giraffe was called iNdlulamithi
(taller than the trees). This then was the birthplace of the mighty Zulu nation.
According to tradition, a man named Nguni led the first migrants who settled in
KwaZulu-Natal.
Many years later, King Shaka turned the Zulus into a mighty warrior
nation.Because of his extraordinary military and strategic finesse, Shaka succeeded in building a mighty Zulu nation - to
this day the largest ethnic group in South Africa.
Shaka revolutionised contemporary Black warfare by introducing the short
stabbing spear to enforce fighting at close combat. This method proved to be so
effective that the Zulus were still using it 60 years later in the war against
the British.
Zulu shields made from oxhide were used both as a protection and as a method
of concealing the weapons the warrior was carrying.
Shaka was assassinated in
1828 by his brother Dingaan, but not before he had united all the tribes in the
area, known today as Kwazulu-Natal.
It was
Shaka's brother Dingaan whom the White migrants, the Voortrekkers,
encountered when they crossed the Tugela River. In December 1838, on the banks of a tributary of the Buffalo River,
the two groups faced one another in battle after Dingaan had ambushed and killed
the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief, and his men. Following the Zulu army’s
defeat at the hands of the Voortrekkers, the river was known as Blood River.
The Zulus paid dearly for
their defeat, they lost not only the battle but also the traditional home
of their fathers. However, under the
subsequent leadership of Cetshwayo, the fame of the Zulu nation grew and forty
years later they regained their pride when they defeated the British in the
Battle of Isandhlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War.The battle was savage and at the end of the day, 58 British officers, 806
British soldiers and 470 African allies, as well as 1 000 Zulus, lay dead or
dying. The Zulus’ pride was restored but they, and later the Voortrekkers too,
would eventually have to bend the knee to Britain.
The British finally defeated the Zulus at Ulundi in July 1879. They partitioned
the Zulu kingdom into thirteen independent chiefdoms, without a monarchy to
unite them. The area known as Zululand was eventually annexed by Britain in 1843
and ten years later it became part of the Colony of Natal.
Courtship and Marriage: The process of courtship and marriage was conducted according to strict rules
and protocol. As each clan was regarded as one family, members of the same clan
were not allowed to marry.A young man was only allowed to woo a girl if
she was considered to be mature enough and if her peer group considered him to
be a good proposition.The man was then allowed to
make a series of indirect approaches, often through his sisters.
After an initial period of playing “hard to get”, the girl was
allowed to indicate her acceptance by sending the man a gift of betrothal beads.
Once her family had indicated their acceptance and approval, the young man set
up a white flag outside his hut, indicating his plan to marry soon.
In the interests of diplomacy, close relatives of the two families undertook the
negotiations for the bride price (lobola). Polygamous marriages were common and
a man could take as many wives as he could afford. He had to pay a dowry in the
form of cattle for each wife he took. Today, money is often used instead of
cattle. The first wife was considered the senior wife and each subsequent bride
had to know her place in the hierarchy and had to take care not to outshine her
elders.
Belief System: The Zulu’s traditional religion was centred on ancestor worship. According to
Zulu religion, the spirits of the ancestors (called Amadlozi) guided their daily
lives and sacrifices were therefore made to appease these spirits. They believed
that the ancestors could only be seen in dreams and that soothsayers (called
sangomas) were the only ones who had the power to communicate with them.
Gender roles: Young boys herd cattle and goats and their elder brothers assist in milking the
cows. Girls clean the huts, collect water and firewood and help in the fields.
In the absence of schools, children learn about their past history and customs
by word of mouth, through story-telling.
Art and Crafts: Ceremonial dress was usually an elaborate combination of exquisite beadwork and
skins, pelts, plumes and feathers. Men often
carried a ceremonial shield and wore an otter skin headband, to indicate their
regiment. Weapons are an integral part of the Zulu tradition and to
this day, men still carry different sized wooden staffs and clubs as part of
their traditional attire.
The choice of animal skin was also indicative of the status of the wearer. For
example, only members of the Royal House were allowed to wear leopard skin and
any leopard killed automatically became the property of the chief.
Small knives and choppers were used to make bowls, platters, combs, spoons,
ceremonial sticks, spear handles and the headrests they used instead of pillows
to protect their elaborate headdresses while they slept. Today, Zulu animal
carvings and masks are popular items in the tourist trade. Zulu women are expert
grass weavers and make a variety of mats and baskets.
Pottery is also a well-developed skill among the Zulu people. Colourful clay
pots are left in the sun, fired by burying them in hot ashes. The
art of Zulu beadwork dates back centuries. The beadwork expresses messages in
symbolic language, such as coded love messages, the wearer’s age or status or
his or her home area. The beadwork is a prime example of the artist’s superb use
of colour and innovative design. Like all the people of Africa, Zulus love to
dance and sing.
.
+44 01903 502595
