The small village of Gingindlovu owes its origins to the military headquarters established in the mid-1800's by the future Zulu king Cetshwayo following his bloody triumph against his brothers in a battle for succession to the throne. Cetshwayo named his headquarters Gingindlovu, or Swallower of the Elephant, for it was said that by defeating his brothers - Prince Mbulazi in particular - he had eaten up the greatest opponent to his ambitions. To the British soldiers who fought two major battles against King Cetshwayo's army here 20 years later during the Anglo-Zulu War, the village was known fondly as "Gin, Gin, I love you".
The sites of the battles of Nyezane and Gingindlovu are just outside Gingindlovu on the R66 to Eshowe . Both sites are close to the road and are marked by granite memorials. About 8kms north towards Mtunzini on the R102 is a memorial to the 71 British soldiers who died - not in battle but of dysentery and malaria - while based at Fort Chelmsford during the war.
Today Gingindlovu serves as a busy shopping centre for the sugarcane farming community and bears little semblance of its former glory.
However, it is close to the beautiful Amatikulu river mouth which offers visitors two worthwhile attractions. On the north bank is one of Zululand's most enchanting restaurants - The Prawn Shack - and on the south side is the Amatikulu Nature Reserve where visitors will be surprised to find large wild animals grazing on hills overlooking the Indian Ocean.
SIYAYA COASTAL PARK
Amatikulu Nature Reserve
The Siyaya Coastal Park - about 42kms of unspoilt coastline - stretches from the mouth of the Umlalazi river to the southern boundary of the Amatikulu Nature Reserve.It includes two nature reserves as well as pristine coastal dune forest, mangrove forests, grassland and lala palm bushveld.
The Umlalazi Nature Reserve (1 028 hectares) and Amatikulu Nature Reserve (1 700 hectares) both offer a network of trails where visitors can view a wide range of creatures - great and small - from the fascinating fiddler crabs and mudskippers which inhabit the mangrove swamp to herds of zebra and giraffes grazing on grasslands overlooking the ocean.
Amatikulu Nature Reserve - with 17kms of coastline - also offers an observation tower for whale-spotting. This is one of only three land-based observation platforms on the KwaZulu Natal coast.Adjoining the Park are the excellent Twinstreams Environmental Education Centre - which has been making schoolchildren more aware of nature for the past 50 years - and The Prawn Shack, one of the more unusual restaurants in the area where visitors can spend a leisurely afternoon enjoying a variety of seafood dishes.
Source of text and images: Visit Zululand
Click here to view a map of the Ginginglovu area.
COLONIAL HERITAGE
Read more about the colonial heritage of the Ginginglovu area, the Battles of Nyezane and Gingindlovu, and the legendary John Dunn - The White Chief of Zululand...
"No other person embodied the turbulent times in which they lived more than John Dunn, the legendary hunter, trader and white chief of Zululand whose activities spanned three crucial decades in the history of Zululand."
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