With South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province making it into Conde Nast Traveler’s list of “The Best Places to Go in Africa in 2024,” the province has really made it onto the Big Time stage of world travel. The prestigious travel magazine chose the north of the province as one of only 11 places on the whole continent of Africa that it recommends as its top picks for next year.
All these accolades for KwaZulu-Natal came to my attention recently when I had the opportunity to meet with Philani Mavundla, mayor of Umvoti Local Municipality in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal. Mayor Mavundla was in New York leading a delegation that was attending the Resurgence Conference, held in Harlem Nov. 16-19. He and other representatives from KwaZulu-Natal, including Durban’s city manager and two people from the tourism office, are attending the conference as part of the preparations for holding the conference in Durban next year.
While the main business of this trip was to prepare for next year’s Resurgence Conference, Mayor Mavundla, like all mayors, was also interested in banging the drum to build Greytown’s tourism economy. Tourism is vital to Greytown, as it is to all of South Africa, as it builds its economy under the weight of stiff financial conditions imposed on the country during its major transition from apartheid by the International Monetary Fund.
KwaZulu-Natal’s Moment
For KwaZulu-Natal to be chosen by Conde Nast Traveler as one of the 11 best places in the entire continent of Africa is a big deal, considering that the continent is large enough to hold the United States three times over. That’s a lot of ground to cover and it includes highly popular draws like Egypt and Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique. And each of those countries has many amazing destinations and attractions within it. So there’s a lot of competition for a South African province to surmount to get onto that list. It should certainly help the province attract more visitors.
The province also made it into the top 24 top destinations for 2024 chosen by Travel and Leisure. In this KwaZulu-Natal is one of the chosen 24 best in the entire world. Truly, KwaZulu-Natal’s day in the sun has come. It’s about time. To me, it is one of the world’s most underappreciated destinations.
KwaZulu-Natal’s capital city of Durban rarely gets the attention it deserves because it’s overshadowed in world media by Johannesburg, South Africa’s capital city, and Cape Town, the Mother City, which is so spectacular it tends to get most of the attention of all of South Africa. In fact, it competes head-to-head with the most popular destinations of the world. It has been repeatedly rated as one of the top destinations in the world by various publications, such as the New York Times, which called it the “Number One Place to Visit” in 2014.
But this time around, it is KwaZulu-Natal’s moment to shine, and deservedly so. Cape Town will continue to be the top draw in South Africa. It’s hard for any place to compete with it, not just in South Africa, but in the whole world.
Johannesburg is the capital city, the business capital and the airline hub of all of sub-Saharan Africa. It’s also the center of much of South Africa’s most significant history, though the city is not yet 150 years old. So it’s going to continue to take much of the limelight that is not already taken by Cape Town.
But for those who have been to Cape Town and Johannesburg, I recommend Durban, which is their equal in my estimation. Once you have turned your attention to Durban and the province, it proves to be in some ways the best place of all. And Durban is the gateway to a world of great African experiences throughout KwaZulu-Natal province.
KwaZulu-Natal has countless points of interest. It’s one of 12 South African provinces, located on the east coast of the country. Though it is a province within South Africa, it borders on three foreign countries. Those include Mozambique to the north, and two small countries that actually exist within the borders of South Africa: Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) and Lesotho. To the east it borders on the warm Indian Ocean. Durban is one of the world’s great beach towns.
Durban is South Africa’s third largest city, with 5 million in the greater metropolitan area. It is historically South Africa’s busiest port. It has the largest Indian population of any city outside of India. It’s a rich, cultural mixing ground, as is all of South Africa, but Durban has its own distinct flavor and spice, with strong currents of Zulu, Indian and British cultures. As the name implies, the province is the historical home of the Zulu nation, and has a great deal of the Zulus’ historical and living culture.
Durban’s history as an international port city goes back to 1497, when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, landed there and first named it “Natal” in honor of Christmas, the day he landed. The name still lingers as part of the province’s name.
KwaZulu-Natal is where Nelson Mandela was captured, beginning 27 years of imprisonment. The Nelson Mandela Capture Site on the highway R103 near Howick is now a major tourist attraction. It has an excellent museum based on Mandela’s life and legacy, and an amazing sculpture memorializing him.
KwaZulu Natal has great safari country, with fine lodges that are not as well known or as highly trafficked as Kruger National Park and some of the other more famous safari lands. The province’s Hluhluwe Umfolozi National Park is the oldest game park in South Africa, dating back to 1895.
The province also has the magnificent Drakensburg Mountains, which rise as high as 11,000 feet and present an entirely different kind of landscape to the safari lands and the coastal areas. The Drakensburg Mountains are at a major faultline, the Drakensburg Escarpment, where the land rises sharply. Beyond that line is the Highveldt, or the high plateau.
KwaZulu-Natal Visits America
With KwaZulu-Natal getting its well-deserved place in Conde Nast Traveler’s sun, it was a good time for me to have the opportunity to speak with Mayor Mavundla, bringing a little of the fresh atmosphere from the province.
Mayor Mavundla was previously deputy mayor of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in Durban, where he grew up. He also served a previous term as mayor of Umvoti, in Greytown, where his parents are from. He’s also the founder and current leader of the Abantu Batho Congress, a party he founded in early-2020. He has a highly colorful and active political career
He’s also a highly successful entrepreneur, having founded his own construction company in 1994, which has been involved in many major construction projects in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Lesotho. Those projects include uShaka Marine World in Durban, the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban, the Sibaya Casino in Durban, and the John Ross Highway Bridge in Richards Bay.
Greytown is not one of South Africa’s most famous tourist attractions. But like the rest of South Africa, it does need to grow its tourism economy. Its main economic drivers are timber and sugar cane. But it also has one of South Africa’s three hot springs, Lilani Hot Springs. The Platt River and the Tugela River, which both run through the area, attract tourists in search of outdoor adventure.
For history, Greytown is the site of the Bombatha Rebellion of 1906. It’s where the King Dinuzulu was tried by a British court for treason and exiled to St. Helena island.
So Greytown itself has much to offer, as one small part of KwaZulu-Natal, which is in turn a small section of South Africa that deserves attention, especially now that it’s hit the Big Time. There is a great deal in the province that is worth experiencing. It is certainly worthy of consideration for a prominent place on your next South African itinerary.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
