Kranskop

Kranskop means Precipice Peak.

Attractions

Also see the neighbouring towns

The routes to the Kranskop area meander through valleys and mountains with high cliffs. The Kranskop peak (Ntunjambili) is 1'175m high. The village is about 15Km from the Tugela River, which is north of the town. The Tugela River Valley lies about 700m below the peak. Just about 5Km southwest on the R74 lies Hermannsburg.

Ntunjambili / Kranskop

Hermannsburg Mission House Museum

The museum, a national monument, is housed in one of the original buildings erected by the Lutheran Mission around 1854.

Hermannsburg Lutheran Church

This church, with its steep roof and bell tower, was built in 1870 and is a national monument.

Sport

The area offers Fishing, Golfing, Hiking, Hunting, 4x4 Trails.

An annual sporting event, The Mudman, consists of running, cycling, and swimming.

Nature

There are Hot Mineral Springs in the area, such as Lilani Hot Springs.

There are several game reserves in the area. Game viewing can be done.

Bird watching

Some of the bird species in the area are: black eagle, rock kestrel, white-necked raven, lanner falcon, rock pigeon, red winged starling, alpine and black swift, lesser- and larger-striped swallow.

Ntunjambili

The Kranskop Peak, called Ntunjambili by the locals, is 1'175m high and overlooks the Tugela River valley. The complete local name is Itshe Lika Ntunjambili (Zulu for Rock With Two Openings).

The first European to ascend to its summit was Captain AM Montgomery (of the royal fusiliers) during the Anglo-Zulu War.

Culture

San/Bushman Rock Art can be viewed.

Local Arts and Crafts are for sale.

There are several sites of historical significance where battles have been fought.

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History

Rock paintings in the area suggest that the San/Bushman were the first settlers of the area.

Zulu tribes were settled in the area by the time the German Lutheran Church established a mission and school in 1854. In the early 1850s a group of 8 missionaries and 8 lay helper immigrants arrived from Osnabruck (Germany) and settled in the area under the leadership of the Reverend Bergtheil. They were from the Hermannsburg Mission Society in Germany and they first tried to settle in Ethopia, but finally settled here. The Germans and Zulu worshipped together, but this failed as the locals could not speak Zulu, and the Zulu could not speak German. Over time more immigrants from Germany settled in the area. There is still a large German speaking community in the area, who are descendents of those early Germans. In 1858 Rev Schütze became the pastor of the German community.

Louis Botha who became Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa in 1910 went to school in Hermannsburg. During the Anglo-Boer War he was a Boer general.

Louis Botha (1862 – 1919)
Prime Minister of Transvaal 1907
Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa 1910

The Kranskop peak is also known as Ntunjambili. The village was founded in 1894, originally with the name Hopetown, which led to confusion as there was also a Hopetown in the area of the present Northern Cape. When the old Boer republics were unified with the British provinces, the town was then renamed Kranskop after the peak.

During the Anglo-Zulu War the British built several forts in the area, such as Fort Buckingham.

In 1906 the Bhambatha Rebellion took place in the Kranskop region. The Magistrate of Kranskop, A W Leslie tried to collect taxes from local people, but the Hlongwa tribe of Chief Mtamu refused to pay, after which the men were jailed and each received 25 lashes with the Cat of nine tails.

The next group in line who were supposed to pay taxes was the Zondi tribe of Chief Bhambatha (Bhambatha ka Mancinza Zondi), but he also refused and called his men to war. The Natal Police were sent to calm matters, but a small battles ensued during which 4 policemen were killed and 5 were wounded. Casualties on Bhambatha side are unknown, but a Zulu participant testified that many of them died with neither side winning the battle. Bhambatha was apparently killed during a battle at Mome Gorge. Estimates have been made of about 2'000 Zulu men that were killed.

The police force was increased to 240 men. Another skirmish took place on 28 May 1906 with several more people killed. A police contingent of 500 men was sent from Johannesburg. At the ensuing battled near Nkandla, Bhambatha and several other chiefs were killed.

Some historians regard Bhambatha's rebellion as the beginning of more intense resistance against apartheid. The Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906 was the last uprising by indigenous people until Sharpville in 1960. The South African Post Office issues a memorial postal stamp in 2006, commissioned to Denis Murphy:

Zulu King Dinizulu (son of Cetshwayo) was implicated in the killing of chiefs who were more loyal to the Europeans during the rebellion and who were killed by him. Dinizulu led the Zulu army against the British during the anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

A force of 200 policemen was sent to arrest Dinizulu, but several more people were killed. Then another force of 4000 policemen was mobilised and sent to Nongoma. Dinizulu eventually surrendered, after which he was banished to Rustenburg in the then Transvaal (today in North-West) where he died at the age of 45 on the Farm Uitkyk on October 18th, 1913.

Nature

Kranskop lies within the WWF AT1012 Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets ecoregion.

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