"KWABHEKITHUNGA STEWARDS FARM" KwaZulu by Bert_Pearson

I was received by the whole tribe, all dressed in their traditional costumes. Very colorful and very impresioning welcome.

It is a very special home, the tribal home of Mbhangcuza (Thomas( Fakude and his family, an Umuzi (Zulu village) true to Zulu culture and traditions that span centuries.

The Fakude family, together with other Zulu families living the area, earn their living from making and marketing tradional Zulu handcrafts.
We can see on display basketware, carvings, intricate Zulu beadwork, tanned game skins and traditional weapons.

Pretty ladies

I witnessed the mystery of generation-old mystical practice of calling the ancestral spirit by Sangoma, the priestess of the Tribe.
I was so close that I could reach out and touch her.

I was assigned a Zulu girl to take care of my stay in the beehive hut, cleaning the hut, making my bed and bringing me my food.

After a great welcome lunch in the community hut was served. It was delicious: 6 succulents traditional dishes, prepared the Zulu way, served with fresh fruit accompanied with Zulu beer.

A song is sung, kind of graces, before the meal. We are all seated around the huge hut and in the middle there was a great round stand with a traditinal stove surrounded with fruits, drinks and food.

It's a custom that the wife should give the first handful of food to her husband at the beginning of the meal.

Dance show

After the meal we all gathered
in a special playground areal for entertainment. The whole tribe came in procession from far with their music and drums singing songs of welcome.

The chief and is wife were seated in a special thrown, the drummer in one corner and the topless dancing girls in an other. The competitions started then within the girls to show who were the best dancers and who would lift their legs the hightest.

After that the chief rose and explained the structure and social order of an Umuzi, traditional dress, regalia, crops and food storage, hut building, and the role of women and children.

The Zulus were very polite and sharing people.

I was glad to have come and experienced first hand the fascinating rituals, the intriguing
customs and beliefs that form the fabric of Zulu life.

• Pros:A feast for the eyes
• In a nutshell:Breathtaking celebration of senses.