About KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal pairs the busiest port in Africa, at Durban, with a subtropical coastline of sugar cane estates running north toward Richards Bay and Zululand. It is the historical seat of the Zulu kingdom founded by Shaka in the early nineteenth century, and the Battlefields Route through towns like Ulundi and Isandlwana traces the Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer Wars fought across its interior. Inland, the Drakensberg escarpment, known in Zulu as uKhahlamba, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of jagged peaks and San rock art. Durban also holds the largest population of people of Indian descent outside India itself, a legacy of nineteenth-century indentured labour on the sugar estates that still shapes the city's food and festival calendar today.

KwaZulu-Natal's smaller towns keep well over 150 events running, led by endurance sport around the Drakensberg foothills. Underberg's Glencairn Farm hosts the multi-day GCTR 2026, while Howick answers with the 2026 Royal Show at the Royal Agricultural Society. Howick Falls follows up with the uMngeni Howick Craft Indaba 2026, and Dundee keeps its own calendar alive with Talana Live. Waterfall rounds out the stretch with the emPOWERment Summit at the Courtyard.