Zululand
Heritage in Durban

KwaZulu-Natal or Zulu Kingdom Travel and tourist information. The Official Web Site of the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority, Durban, South Africa.

In 1851, the Norwegian Missionary Society established a station on the banks of the Mpangeni River. The river was named after the profusion of Mpange trees growing along its banks, and the settlement that formed around the station took the slightly Anglicised name of the river. Empangeni is a thriving, friendly Zululand town in the beautiful surroundings of the Mpangeni Valley. Eshowe's cool, elevated position on a hilltop overlooking the hot and humid Zululand coastal plain gives the town its serenity, but the Dlinza Forest around which the town wraps itself, gives Eshowe it soul. Many private game farms, hunting lodges and safari guides operate from this magnet for international trophy collectors. Magudu is also the site of a historical village that was once home to Magudu, the Zulu rain queen. Melmoth is a long established trading and agricultural centre, with an emphasis on timber. During the Depression years of the 1930s, drastic irrigation systems were started in Pongola. The town of Pongola thrived as a result of the canal system and a sugar mill that was built. Situated in the heart of the old Zulu kingdom and current KwaZulu-Natal Zululand region, which lost its independence to Colonial expansionism in the late 19th century, Ulundi is near the site of King Cetshwayo's royal settlement razed to the ground after the final battle of the Anglo-Zulu War. Vryheid (Freedom) became a focal point for German immigration which continues to inform this modern progressive town. Many examples of Tudor and Edwardian architecture stand among the numerous historic landmarks of Vryheid.