Finding King Shaka's Isivivane
Our book "Op Pad in Suid-Afrika" (http://www.loot.co.za/product/b-p-j-erasmus-op-pad-in-suid-afrika/xhjf-2791-g650) also available in English (http://www.loot.co.za/product/b-p-j-erasmus-on-route-in-south-africa/jvws-2791-g480) had a very short little paragraph under the section about Umzumbe (where we spent a week) telling the story of how King Shaka's "isivivane" was still at the spot where he made it in 1828.
It said that Shaka picked up a stone in his left foot, muttered a prayer, took it with his right hand, spat on it and put it on the ground. All of his men then followed suit and they created a huge pile of stones. This was in order to gain favour from the ancestors for his next invasion. (into Pondoland)
We were immediately curious about this interesting place and I started googling for some more information.
I came across this article on the Umzumbe Municipality's website:
https://www.umzumbe.gov.za/isivivane.html
It stated that:
The history behind Isivivane sikaShaka is that Isivivane sikaShaka is heap of stone that traces the journey of the last expedition by King Shaka Zulu in May 1828. In September 1827 King Shaka sent spies to go and study the status of king Faku’s army in Pondoland which is now known as Eastern Cape with the aim of attacking. In October 1827 Queen Nandi passed away and the Zulu nation had to undergo year mourning.
In May 1828 King Shaka sent his army to Pondoland which is now known as Eastern Cape. The army camped in several places and Isivivane at KwaQoloqolo was one their camp sites. The king Shaka named the river Mthwalume after crossing it as it has long steeply valley. Each soldier has to throw a stone in a marked place by the King and greet it as Sawubona Sivivane.
From the information on the website, I found a telephone number and phoned the municipality. They directed me to a Mr Mfanafuthi Ngwabe who said that he will arrange for someone to take us to the site.
I was so excited! I tried to phone him again to confirm a time but he didn't answer, nor did he respond to my text messages at the time.
We therefore decided to try and find the place by ourselves. We knew that the hill overlooked the Kwamalukaka river so we pinned a spot on Google maps where we thought it could be, and drove there.
On the way we stopped by locals who were walking home / to a busstop from work. All of them knew what we were talking about, but their English was broken and we didn't quite understand what they were saying. At last we reached a hilltop where a school was situated. The man there advised us to drive to Isihlonyane.
And so we did just that.
When we eventually reached Isihlonyane, no-one seemed to know what we were talking about.
We all agreed that we should look for the Umzumbe Municipality and ask if anyone there can assist us in finding the spot. When we got there, it was as if they had been expecting us. Sfiso and Noma got into their car and told us to follow them.
We drove through many rural roads (we would NEVER have found it on our own) up to the very spot where Shaka's isivivane is!
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| Pieter, Declan, Charma, Rut, Noma and Sfiso |
They told us that they have a gathering every year at that spot to commemorate that day on which Shaka made his isivivane.
We made this youtube video to share our experience with you!
Enjoy!
Opmerkings