A brief history of Mtunzini

OUR VIRTUAL MUSEUM

The first hotel in Mtunzini was built around 1900 on the site of the present Tradewinds Country Inn. It was known as the Umlalazi Hotel as the village was then known as Umlalazi. However in 1907, the name of the village was changed to Mtunzini as the postal services kept delivering the mail to Umlazi, south of Durban. The hotel boasted such modern amenities as a telephone and a billiards room and was popular with hunters as the owner, Mr W J Baytopp, was a regular crocodile hunter on the Mlalazi River.

In the 1950s a bedroom wing was added to the original building, here still clearly visible. It was the centre of social life in the village - offering the only bar and restaurant facilities. In the 1960s a swimming pool was built in the backyard - the first pool in Mtunzini. It was used by the Mtunzini Primary School for swimming lessons. Before that school children walked to the Siyaya River for their weekly swimming lessons.

In the 1980s Alan Veitch and his sister Claire bought the hotel and it became known as The Tradewinds Hotel. They expanded the bedrooms and upgraded the facilities. It burnt down on 3 July 1986 (at 05h00) and was rebuilt as it is today with the original section completely destroyed.

A more detailed survey of Mtunzini's fascinating history is available in the book, Mtunzini, A History from Earliest Times to 1995 written by local historian Albert van Jaarsveld and available at Hippo Printing, The Hearty Meal and Nakop Technology Internet Cafe.

Unusual visitors to our shores
Whales have often beached on Mtunzini's beaches, the photograph (left) from the Killie Campbell Archive in Durban is the earliest recorded beaching in the 1920s. Other photographs from the archives of Ian Garland who farmed at Twinstreams for more than 50 years, show a seal (bottom right) and the tracks of a hippo (bottom left) leading into the sea. Recently a hippo was briefly resident in the Mlalazi lagoon before heading south where it was eventually shot near Verulam.

A brief history of
'A Place in the Shade'
The Zulu word emthunzini means "a place in the shade" but in the history of this small coastal town it refers specifically to the place under the milkwood trees near the Mlalazi River where the White Zulu chief, John Dunn, would meet with the tribal elders of the area during the second half of the 19th Century.
On the death of John Dunn in 1895, the colonial authorities appointed a magistrate to be permanently based in Mtunzini to continue the work of Dunn in administering this huge coastal area which stretched from north of the Thukela River to the southern bank of the Mhlatuze River and Ongoye Forest in the west.
The small settlement around the magistrate was named Umlalazi – after the river – but this led to confusion amongst the various postal services who kept delivering the mail to Umlazi, south of Durban, and in 1907 the name was changed back to the name which Dunn had used, Mtunzini.
In 1944 the local authority – the Mtunzini Civic Association – approached the Natal Parks Board to take control of the Mlalazi River lagoon and coastal forest as the poaching in this area was difficult to control. This transfer made Mtunzini the only local authority on the KZN coast which until today does not control tis beaches. Various attemps to get the land back failed and many believe this has saved the town from unsightly coastal development which has marred much of the country’s coastline.
The municipal footprint is approximately 850 hectares of which about 300 hectares is under sugarcane, the old ‘prawn farm’ and the toll road and toll plaza. About 275 hectares is natural bush (a large portion of which has been rehabilitated) and the remainder is made up of residential, light industry, schools and sports grounds.
Blessed with a sub-tropical climate (humid summers and mild winters) and a high annual rainfall, Mtunzini - or The Village, as the locals often refer to it - boasts a clean, safe, peaceful and abundant environment with a stunning outlook over the Umlalazi Nature Reserve and the sea.
The whole town of Mtunzini was declared a Conservancy in 1995 and it is well-known for its commitment to the preservation of its natural heritage.
A grove of raphia palms beside the railway line is one of the few declared natural monuments in the country and is the best place to spot the rare Palmnut Vulture which nests close to the top of the palm. A rare species of cycad was discovered by John Medley Wood in the Ongoye hills in (also in 1895) and removed them to Durban Botanical Gardens a few years later. Unfortunately only males of the species have ever been discovered and off-shoots of these plants are now in several major collections around the world- including Kew Gardens - where they are considered the ‘rarest plant’ in their collection.
The town boasts a variety of leisure activities - including a challenging 18-hole 71 par golf course, fishing, waterskiing, tennis, bowls and horse riding. Mtunzini also boasts a range of a range of accommodation establishments and restaurants.
Mtunzini is just a hop off the N2 - making this serene seaside village the ideal coastal base for exploring the nearby game reserves and cultural and historical attractions.
Mtunzini has been a hub of environmental education and awareness from the time neighbouring farmer Ian Garland started taking school children and teachers on 'nature outings' on his farm Twinstreams 60 years ago. He spread the message of conservation amongst the local community long before the concept of ‘global warming’ and ‘climate change’ was developed.

The original station at Mtunzini, in the days when travellers could catch a daily passenger train to Durban. The building burnt down in the 1990s.

The Anglican Church in Hely Hutchinson St with the Mlalazi lagoon cleary visible from the main street.

Construction of the original bridge crossing the the Mlalazi River on the R102.
crossing the Mlalazi

The only crossing of the Mlalazi before the construction of a bridge on the R102.

The Magistrate's residence at the end of Magistrate's Street was the first residence built in Mtunzini and was occupied by the magistrate, Mr B Colenbrander. The three-bedroom house - still standing today though much altered - was built in 1901 with sandstone and brick at a cost of £1724.10.