The historical borough of Stanger began as a fertile valley where King Shaka established a large African kraal and an area where he once put his cattle out to graze. Some of the first European traders who docked along the shores off the coast of what is now KwaZulu-Natal encountered King Shaka and traded items such as elephant-tusk ivory, skins and carvings in return for settler’s cloth, food, beads and trinkets.
As relations between the Zulus and the settlers improved, Shaka allocated land to the European settlers, one of whom was Edmond Morewood. Granted a large farm near Umhlali, Morewood experimented with growing sugar cane. He had seed cane shipped in from Mauritius and Reunion and in 1851 Morewood proudly produced his first batch of processed sugar. It was to be the beginnings of the Natal sugar success story and with plantations well under way in the mid 1850s immigrants from England and Scotland began arriving en masse.
In 1872, Leige Hulett and a group of local farmers petitioned the government to build a town that would service the surrounding farms and sugar estates. Permission was granted and Stanger, named after the first surveyor general of Natal, began to take shape. With a few shops, a police station and the magistrate’s house, the town was declared and officially named in 1873.
On 24 September 1828, King Shaka was murdered by his two half-brothers and buried in an empty storage pit. The exact location is not known, however, a monument built by the Zulu people allegedly marks the spot of his grave in Stanger.
Stanger has gone on to become a thriving picturesque town with Jacaranda trees lining the streets. It has become renowned for its multi-cultural facets. There is a large Indian population residing in the area and the town remains a pinnacle contributor to the sugar industry.
Apart from the sugar cane farms and estates that surround the town, property price averages in central Stanger showed an average price of R765 000 for full-title property and R580 000 for sectional title property, according to statistics released by Lightstone. The area has recorded a total of 51 residential property transfers in the past 12 months, with the highest price being in Stanger Heights at R800 000 in the freehold sector of the market. Stanger Manor came in at a more affordable R483 0000. Open space price averages came in at R523 000 and 20 sales transactions in this category were concluded.
The nearest beach to Stanger is situated approximately 10 km away. Blythedale Beach is an un-spoilt haven of white sandy beaches and is nestled amongst the sub-tropical vegetation of KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast. The closest major shopping hub is situated in Umhlanga approximately 56km to the south.
The Zulu Kingdom is filled with game parks and nature reserves, green rolling hills, white sandy beaches and sweet sugar cane fields. While these aspects continue to lure tourists, so too does the rich Zulu history that is so deeply entrenched in this magical area.
