Heritage Route of King Shaka

Memorial Complex-

Shakas two half brothers; Dingane and Mhlangana and his body servant, Mbopa assassinated King Shaka on the 22 September 1828. A memorial stone was erected over Shakas grave in 1932 by the Zulu nation and was declared a national monument on the 29 June 1938. At the gardens an interpretive centre has been opened.

Mavivane Execution Cliff-

This means the 'Place of Shivering'. According to legend Shaka used it as an execution cliff. The cliff is on the outskirts of Stanger, and can be found by going up Cato Street, over a bridge towards the cemetery, turning left alongside the cemetery the execution cliff can be found at the end of the road.

High Rock-

According to legend this was a place of execution of many of Shaka's enemies, also many of his warriors were required to prove their courage by leaping from the rock into the sea. High Rock is in the Shakas Rock area on to seashore off Rock Lane. Follow the footpath to the sea shore.

Mbozambo Valley-

This area is known as 'Shaka's Playground. Shaka used to bathe, relax and get his drinking water from an underground spring in this valley. This can be found on the outskirts of Stanger, beyond the Shakaville Township.

Observation Rock-

According to legend Shaka used to sit on this rock to watch his impis from his 3 military camps train. The rock has been declared a National Monument and can be seen in the Groutvilie area. To view, take the old main road R102 out of Stanger and turn into the road past the Groutville School, then turn right up a hill to a field and follow a foot path to the rock.

Old Forts:

Fort Pearson, War Graves and the Ultimatum Tree-

All from the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War and can be found on the South bank of the Tugela River. Fort Pearson and the Ultimatum Tree are National Monuments. The Fort was built in 1878 and named after Colonel Charles Pearson, who led one of the columns that invaded Zululand in 1879. There is no building, just trenches and tent sites. It was under the Ultimatum Tree that delegates of King Cetshwayo, son of Mapande who was brother of Shaka, were given an ultimatum by the British Government to pay taxes and return stolen cattle by mid January 1879, or there would be war. War raged until August of that year, when Cetshwayo was captured There are war graves at the foot of the hill from that time. These can be found by travelling north on the N2. There is a signboard on the right about 5kms before the Tugela River directing you to the sites.

Fort Tenedos-

The remains of this fort can be found on the bank of the Tugeia River and is from the same 1879 war. It was named after a royal navy ship that not only supplied most of the men who built the fort, but also provided the original Garrison. A few war graves can be seen on the site, which can be found by travelling north on the N2 past Stanger. The turn off is to the right just after the Tugela River.

First School in the Stanger!

Our first School, a multi-racial one called "Whites", (later referred to as the Mission School), was formed in 1893 in a small house, on the corner of Jackson and Hulett Streets, opposite the Methodist Church, which was rented from the Seedat family of Stanger. The house was built in 1880, and demolished in May 1984. It schooled children of all races; closing as a school in 1923 with 200 pupils.

A young man by the name of Mr. Anthony A Simon, a European, who had run a school for Indian children at Isipingo on the Natal South Coast, had been persuaded by a friend, (later to become his father-in-law) Mr. Joel Peters, to come up to tiny Stanger Village to open a school, as there was none here. He is the "grandfather'' open a school, of Stanger's schooling system.

His son and daughters all took up the teaching profession and taught in local schools, likewise some of his grandchildren. 1895, in two rooms set aside as a school for White children of this area, the owner of the large house, Mr. H R Dukes, became our second Headmaster. This is where Stanger South Indian School now is, and was referred to as the Stanqer European Government School, and remained thus until recently On 5 August when the new High and Secondary European schools were built, in 1966 and 1976.

In 1920, the school built for the India opposite the old Stanger Country Club was Indian children. Soon schools for Coloureds and Zulus were built, and many more since, to cater for the growing number of children of this area.