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 Mtunzini ('the shady place') is one of the few points on the Zululand coast that is reasonably suitable for bathing. The beach slopes too steeply over most of the coast.
This quiet lagoon of the Umlalazi river now supports a small town with a hotel and caravan park. The lagoon is suitable for water skiing and is part of the Umlalazi Nature Reserve.
Mtunzini was the summer home of John Dunn. Dunn was a white Zulu chief. As a youngster, he was befriended by Chief Cetshwayo who employed him as an adviser. He married Catherine Pearce and then with her as his chief wife, he married 49 Zulu wives.
After the Anglo/Zulu War, he was given the territory between the Tugela and the Mhlatuze. He fathered 117 offspring for whom he engaged a European tutor.
Near the town is the Raffia Palm Monument.  A wooden boardwalk takes visitors through this grove of 'the king of palms' which flower only once during their 25 year life and having done so, then die. It is the only grove of such trees South of Kosi Bay. The grove is also the breeding ground for the palm nut vulture.
More than 300 species of birds and 250 species of trees have been identified. There is also a spectacular annual migration of butterflies.
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Mtunzini
0353 401421
Mtunzini is the start (or the end!) of the Rainbow route that stretches through Eshowe, Melmoth, Vryheid, Paulpietersburg, Piet Retief and on to Kriel in Mpumulanga.
