MZANZI ISSUE 16
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Summer Travel<br />
In 1842 they made an epic journey, racing 960km in just 10<br />
days to Grahamstown, fording 120 rivers along the way, to<br />
fetch military help for the British garrison in Durban that was<br />
besieged by Boer forces.<br />
Travelling out of the central city going north, your reach the<br />
sprawling KwaMashu township, the Inanda Valley and the<br />
Phoenix Settlement. Here the Inanda Heritage Route starts,<br />
and it’s said that in Inanda, there is “more history per square<br />
kilometre than anywhere else in South Africa”. The route will<br />
lead you to the house and offices that were once home to<br />
Mahatma Gandhi in the Phoenix Settlement. There are some<br />
truly fascinating exhibitions to be seen here. It was here that<br />
Gandhi first developed his philosophy of passive resistance<br />
against injustice, a philosophy that was applied by the people<br />
of both South Africa and India in their struggles for freedom.<br />
From Phoenix the road takes one up the hill to Ohlange where<br />
John Dube, founding president of the ANC that governs South<br />
Africa today, acquired a piece of land and built a school for<br />
his community not far from where he was born on the Inanda<br />
Mission Station in 1871. The school, the Zulu Christian<br />
Industrial School, later known as the Ohlange Institute, was<br />
the first black African-owned and run educational institution<br />
in South Africa. Dube’s first house also still stands here, while<br />
the graves of Dube, his wife and a number of his children are<br />
here too…now a national monument.<br />
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In 1994 in South Africa’s first democratic elections Nelson<br />
Mandela chose the Dr JL Dube Interpretation Centre housed<br />
on the school premises as the place where he cast his vote<br />
for the first time in a fully free, democratic South Africa.<br />
There’s much else to do in Durban, such as spending time on<br />
its famous beaches that include the beach at uShaka Pier,<br />
Addington Beach, South Beach, North Beach, Snake Park<br />
Beach, Battrery Beach, Blue Lagoon Beach, the beaches around<br />
Umhlanga, the Bluff and Amanzimtoti, to name but a few.<br />
Or you can attend a soccer match or other sporting event at<br />
the Moses Mabhida Stadium – or do the bungee jump from<br />
the arch over its top - or visit a Zulu cultural village and watch<br />
some foot stomping Zulu warriors do their powerful battle<br />
dance. There are restaurants, pubs and clubs aplenty along<br />
Florida Road. Or you can visit the fabulous uShaka Marine<br />
World with its dolphin shows and massive aquarium.<br />
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• For more information: Visit Durban (Durban Tourism) email<br />
info@visitdurban.travel, tel +27 (0)31 322 4<strong>16</strong>4 or website<br />
http://visitdurban.travel/.<br />
70 |<strong>ISSUE</strong> <strong>16</strong>|www.mzanzitravel.co.za | <strong>MZANZI</strong>TRAVEL<br />
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