Fort Nongqayi Museum Village

Around 90 barefoot Zulu police (known as the Nongqayi or ‘restrainers’) moved into the building to maintain law and order in Zululand in what today functions as Zululand’s biggest museum village.

Within the village of Fort Nongqayi are a number of museums. For instance the Zululand Historical Museum, which not only journeys from the Iron Age to the present day to trace the history of the area, but also focuses on the cross-cultural influences the past 200 years have brought to bear on Zululand.

Learn about South Africa’s only official white Zulu iNkosi or chief, who managed to find himself 48 wives (some sources say 49, but nonetheless he managed to father 117 children). Also find out how a Zulu hut is built, see King Mpande’s wheelchair, catch a glimpse of brass armbands worn by Zulu kings and soldiers and some of the incredible mahogany and teak furniture of John Dunn, the white chief mentioned above.