African Train Safari Destinations

Stanger is the commercial centre for one of the most extensive sugar-growing regions in the country, which also occupies a pivotal place in the history of the Zulu people. Shaka, the great Zulu warrior-king and founder of the nation, lies buried here. Apart from his two royal kraals named kwaBulawayo ('the place of the persecuted one ') he also built a capital called kwaDukuza ('the place of the lost person ') at the site of present-day Stanger. Although the town is named after the first surveyor-general of Natal, William Stanger, most Zulus still refer to it as Dukuza.

Edmund Morewood was the manager of a cotton estate on the Mdloti River. His overseer, Ephraim Rathbone, planted an experimental patch of sugar cane. The cane grew well, but the company that owned the estate was primarily interested in cotton and was on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1849 Morewood left the company and settled on a farm of his own, named Compensation, lying between the Tongati and Mhlali rivers. He took the sugar cane with him and, although his resources were limited, he was convinced that sugar was the crop for the north coast of Natal. At the end of 1850 Morewood built a crude little mill and early in 1951 he crushed his first crop of cane – the first sugar to be produced in Natal.

The tiny railway station still bears the farm's name and is a few minutes drive from the Zimbali Hotel and Golf Resort.

Labels: African Collage, Durban Safari, Golf Safari