Zulu Cultural Tours, Eshowe, Zululand

Your guide, Joe Mdluli is a local Zulu man but conducts both tours in English. On the day trip you enjoy a local lunch and on the overnight trip you also spend a night in Joe Mdluli’s home with him and his family, sharing a traditional Zulu supper and the peace and quiet of sleeping in a Zulu village, surrounded by the Eshowe/Ntumeni hills where the only lights are the millions of stars above in the Milky Way and the only sounds are the cows lowing in the kraal.

ALL Tours Depart from The George Hotel. 36 Main Street Eshowe, KZN South Africa. Please contact us to book today on [email protected] or call 0354744919. 

Have you ever wanted to try out a love potion concocted by a Zulu chemist? Then join us on one of our Zulu sangoma tours in the greater Eshowe area where you will be mesmerized by the sounds of drums, music, chanting and people speaking in tongues. Your guide, Joe Mdluli leads these vibrant and colourful tours into the heart of rural Zululand where ceremonies take place in a traditional kraal and are usually attended by 15-20 people with female sangomas as the head of a few trainee sangomas (twasas).

The Zulu people believe in ancestral and traditional healing. The divine healer (sangoma) is believed to have supernatural powers of communicating with the ancestors on their behalf and is therefore assigned a very powerful status in the community. A position often fulfilled by women, sangomas have insight into the present and throw bones to predict the future of those who seek their help. Working alone or sometimes partnering with medicine men (inyangas), they are also expected to help find stolen goods and offer protection to warriors with powerful muthi.

Sangoma Tours offered:

·         Sangoma healing                              Wednesdays/Sundays

·         Sangoma initiation ceremonies  Saturdays

·         Private sangoma visits                   Daily

·         Consultations                                    Enquire at our front desk (cost as per personal requirements)

ALL Tours Depart from The George Hotel. 36 Main Street Eshowe, KZN South Africa. Please contact us to book today on [email protected] or call 0354744919.

Taking place on weekends, these ceremonies are a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience that The George Hotel Tours has the privilege of being invited to on a regular basis because of our strong relationship with the communities.

Tours are led by an English-speaking Zulu guide, leave at 1pm and return at 5pm and require transport. These joyous events are held out in the magnificent Zululand countryside so you will need a pair of good walking shoes, a hat, sunscreen and enough water.

This is Africa time at its best: you can never be too early or too late. Old dirt tracks and hills usher you toward the ceremony along with other invited guests winding their way in a common direction – usually making for a great adventure.

The Zulu culture insists that everyone come and witness their weddings and coming of age ceremonies while the evening festivities are reserved for participating families only.

·         Traditional Zulu Weddings

The Zulu bride usually changes outfits three times during the wedding, showing the in-laws how beautiful she looks in different colours. The wedding ceremony takes place at the local church and here the bride wears white. After the service the wedding party heads over to the groom’s house where the bride changes into a traditional Zulu outfit, beaming with colour. There is jubilant singing and dancing, a groom slaughters a cow to confirm that he accepts the bride into his family and the bride responds by putting money in the cow’s stomach.

At the end of the ceremony - in a practice called ukwaba - the bride gives blankets to her new family with which they cover themselves while everybody else breaks out in singing, ululating and dancing in celebration.

·         Coming of Age Ceremonies

Umemulo is a very important traditional ceremony most Zulu girls perform as they enter into womanhood and signifies that she is now ready for marriage. Traditionally the ceremony was strictly reserved for girls who had preserved their virginity until the age of 21 but as times have changed, rules have been relaxed and these days a girl can have Umemulo at any age as long as she is not married. The rituals involve slaughtering a cow and the traditional Zulu spear dance Ukusina.

ALL Tours Depart from The George Hotel. 36 Main Street Eshowe, KZN South Africa. Please contact us to book today on [email protected] or call 0354744919.

Wednesdays and Sundays 

The ceremonies take place most weeks in rural Zululand. They are very vibrant and colourful with  woman sangomas as head of a few trainee sangomas (Twasa's). You will hear people talking in tongues, drums, music and chanting, where 15 to twenty five  people attending — a really interesting new experience'. Also visit a Zulu Chemist and check them making medicines out of roots, bark and a host of other products. Buy a love potion or medicine for a particular cure. 

Zulu people believe in ancestors and in traditional healing. They believe that the divine healer, or sangoma, has supernatural powers of communicating with the ancestral spirits on their behalf. Sangomas play a significant role among the Zulu nation and are assigned very powerful status among the society. Often it is women who take up this profession.

Sangomas predict the present and the future of the people who come to seek help from them. Sometimes they are even expected to find stolen goods. They throw and read bones to determine the future. Sangomas generally work alone and sometimes they work in conjunction with medicine men (inyangas).

You can experience these ceremonies first hand! Tours leave The George Hotel  on Wednesdays and Sundays at 1 pm. If you would like to experience this unique part of the Zulu culture. These unique ceremonies are set in the beautiful Zululand countryside surrounded by rolling hills and Zulu villages. They usually take place in a traditional kraal so one can also experience day to day life in rural Zululand while the ceremonies are taking place.

You need to check out availability with our front desk and can even organise a visit for a consultation. Cost depends on your personal requirements.

ALL Tours Depart from The George Hotel. 36 Main Street Eshowe, KZN South Africa. Please contact us to book today on [email protected] or call 0354744919.

During the month of October (15th to 31st), more than 30 000 Shembe followers gather for a month of religious celebrations in the village of Judea near Eshowe. The village literally springs up overnight at their yearly gathering place. This is an absolute eye opener and gives one a chance to meet the Shembes and their Saviour. On the Saturday is the traditional prayer dance, and Sunday is the day of prayer, where followers get an opportunity to be healed and blessed by Shembe. There is a tremendous emphasis on traditional dress and dance, praise singing, and the blowing of the Horns of Jericho.

Shembe
Each year during the last three weeks of October over 30,000 Zulu Shembes gather at Judea near Eshowe to meet their Leader.

Tens of thousands of faithful followers gather and resurrect the village that had been disbanded after the previous year. In this very vibrant and colourful village hundreds of family shops spring up selling items from food to religious paraphernalia. A hive of economic activity prevails in between a formal religious program.

There are two sessions of prayer and traditional “prayer” dances performed by five distinct groups. At prayer everybody dresses in long white robes (the elders dress in green). At the dance the men dress in traditional warrior-type gear, and older women in modest black and beautifully beaded dresses and headgear. The younger women and the Scottish in their distinctive attire. No shoes, hats, smoking or alcohol is permitted.

Shembe has 4.5 million followers. Shembe, who is the fourth successor to the prophet Isaiah (Isaya), is regarded as a miracle performer in the mould of Christ. After services, thousands queue kneeling to be blessed (with a bottle of vaseline) and cured. A visit to Judea is a step into another world that is on our doorstep yet so distant to us. Visitors are welcome and meetings with him can be arranged.

The Nazereth Baptist Church was introduced to the continent of Africa by Prophet Isaiah Shembe in 1910.The Nazerenes believe in God the father (Jehova) God the Son (Jesus Christ) God the Holy Spirit of Ekuphakameni (Shembe the Holy Spirit – not the person in human flesh). The church observes the Sabbath Day.A Nazarene takes a vow that they may not partake of any liquor, shall not shave his/her hair. Males will be circumcised on reaching 18. They must be baptised in a pool of water. He or she does not feed himself or herself with all that which is cast out. (Pork is singled out strongly). These basic requirements need to be fulfilled to attain holiness.The Nazarenes observe traditional values which are not in conflict with God’s will. If you are African then African traditional values and if Western, Western traditional values. Emphasis on traditional African attire is not in conflict with God. Hence there is an uncommon way of worshipping God that is through African traditional dance with beating of drums.

ALL Tours Depart from The George Hotel. 36 Main Street Eshowe, KZN South Africa. Please contact us to book today on [email protected] or call 0354744919.

This complete Zulu experience immerses your senses in an epic three-day Zululand adventure that captures the essence of Africa. Way off the beaten track, you are as far removed from life as you know it as you’ll ever be, experiencing Zulu cultural life as it is today in unimaginable scenic beauty.

Customise your tour:

·         Rural Zulu cultural life.

·         Zulu village and marketplace.

·         Traditional Zulu ceremony (weekends only).

·         Visit a sangoma or attend a sangoma healing ceremony.

·         Mission station and missionaries.

·         Upliftment projects: KwaMondi School, King Dinuzulu Crèche, Cunina Orphanage.

·         Tugela Valley and Mbongolwane wetland.

·         Dlinza forest aerial boardwalk.

·         Rural agriculture; commercial farming initiatives for Zulu people.

·         Potters and/or beaders at work.

·         Vegetable or medicinal plant growing projects.

·         Fort Nongqayi Zululand Historical Museum; Vukani basket collection, beadmaking, papermaking with cane leaves.

·         John Dunn: The first “White Nkosi”.

·         Martyr’s Cross: the first Zulu martyr.

·         From ancestral worship to present day Christianity.

·         Sleepover in a Zulu Village for one night (optional at no extra cost)

Tour Price: R 3 750

Includes:

·         All Meals

·         Accommodation

·         Entrance Fees

·         Tour Guides

Starting on Friday 10am and wrapping up with a light lunch on Sunday, two nights’ inclusive accommodation is provided at The George Hotel. However, we need you to bring your own car and liquid refreshments. Should some of the traditional ceremonies not take place, we will arrange alternative experiences.

Because this tour is incredibly popular and we have to liaise with the community, you will have to book in advance.