Babanango is a small village in northern Zululand on the road to Dundee about 30 km west of Ulundi. It lies on a hilltop and is, in fact, the highest village in Zululand at 770 m above sea level. The White Mfolozi River flows just to the north of the village.
It is the site of one of King Dingane’s bloodiest battles where Piet retief and his Boer followers were massacred in 1838. In 1885 a more friendly King Cetshwayo made the area part of a land grant to European farmers. Its history makes it an ideal starting point for the Battlefields Route.
The area was also involved in the Anglo-Boer War in the early 1900s when the Boers tried to take Natal back from the British.
There are some major hiking trails in the area including the six day Trans-Zululand Trail which starts close to Babanango and follows the Mfolozi River to St Lucia finally ending at Manzibomvu and taking in Sodwana Bay. The Mfolozi Thongaland Trail also starts here and winds its way around the green rolling hils that Zululand is famous for.
