The town Stanger was founded about 1820 by King Shaka and named KwaDukuza meaning in Zulu: Place of the Lost Person. There was a labyrinth of huts, and after Shaka was assassinated the town was burnt to the ground. European settlers built a town on the site naming it Stanger after William Stanger the surveyor-general of Natal. A small museum adjoins the site of King Shaka's grave. Every year on the 24th September the day Shaka died is the Shaka Day Festival. The name Stanger was changed to KwaDukuza in 2006.
Huberta's stay in the area had great significance to her story as her journey unfolds.
King Shaka
"The reason I stayed so long in the places frequented by King Shaka was because it was far away from the maddening crowd and their flashing cameras. No one bothered me and I could enjoy the sugar cane and pools of water. One evening I was hungry and found some cane reeds, how was I to know it was a house where people were living. I chomped and ate and the house moved bulging inwards with horrible creaks and groans. Inside the people huddled together and frankly just spoil't my dinner, so I walked away to a quiet grazing field."
Shaka's observation hill and area frequented by Huberta
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