A person who has isiZulu as home language is referred to as a Zulu. IsiZulu is one of South Africa's eleven official languages. It is in fact, in terms of home languages, South Africa's largest language group (22.9%). The language falls in the Nguni-languages group, other languages in this group include isiSwati and isiXhosa.

One of the first ancestors of the Zulu nation, the son of Chief Malandela, was named Zulu which means "heaven" in the Nguni languages. The Zulu nation that was born took on the same name, thus the Zulus are known by some as "the people from heaven" living in "the place of heaven" (KwaZulu).

The Zulu nation is a proud people with a very rich historical and cultural heritage. Southern Africa has a host of different cultural groups, many not well known. However, everyone in the region knows about the Zulus. Probably the chief reason for this is to be found in the heritage of the legendary Zulu king by the name of Shaka. He lived and ruled in the early 19th century. Under his leadership the Zulu's became the dominant force north of the then Cape Colony. The latter was probably very lucky that the Zulus did not aspire to move further south... Shaka's military skills as tactician and strategist is still marveled at today. Not only other African tribes, but also European nations who ventured into his domain, suffered under his influence. Shaka reshaped the demography of then Southern Africa by his twin campaigns of "conquer and incorporate" and "conquer and destroy".

Present day Zulus are mostly still very active participants in their culture. Because they have such a proud military history the hierarchy of Zulu society has an almost military structure to it. The foot soldiers at the bottom are known as impi's (Zulu warriors). At cultural gatherings traditionally dressed Zulu impi's will gather in their thousands with knob kieries, spears and cow-hide shields. Respect are paid to induna's, chiefs, the king's prime minister and off-course the king.

When touring through KwaZulu-Natal there are many opportunities to be introduced to Zulu culture and to interact with Zulu people. Some places will provide you with a short overview experience while others offer overnight accommodation and longer programmes. Some of the better known places are: Shakaland*, Simunye and DumaZulu.

Africa Deluxe Tours include cultural experiences in most of our tours. For more about this contact us or visit the tours section on our website*.