Retreat to Lilani Hot Springs in Zululand

One day in Zululand many years ago, a chief was out hunting when he came across a pool of warm water bubbling from a crack in the rocks. He reported his find to the king, who declared it a special place. One of nature’s little wonders, the hot spring was rumoured to remedy ailments such as arthritis.

When the British set foot in Natal and Durban became a hub of colonial life, the springs were seized for use by whites only. The chief secretly renamed the area Lilani – an instruction in Zulu for his people to mourn their loss. Today, the spring is said to be symbolic of those tears and is known as Lilani Hot Springs.

This story was passed down through generations of people living in the Kranskop valley of KwaZulu-Natal, says Colleen Mhlongo, who helps co-ordinate a community project aimed at encouraging tourism to the hot spring. Guests stay in thatched rondavels with walls made of stone from the river basin below. The traditionally inspired single- and double-storey homesteads were built by the Mthembu Sithole Development Trust as part of an initiative funded by government grants for poverty alleviation. Some have kitchens equipped for self-catering and there’s a communal braai area.

This retreat is wonderfully simple, hidden deep in a vale between Kranskop and Ahrens, and is reached by a winding dirt track that clings to hilly contours. There are a number of fern-shaded plunge pools just upstream from where the Hlimbitwa and Mvoti rivers converge. It’s a place where you can hear the ululating of Zulu women echo across the valley, where hills dotted with kraals are the view from your bedroom window and where, as legend has it, you can reap therapeutic relief from the sulphur-rich spring water.

$ Rondavels sleep up to six and are perfect for a family group. It costs R300 a night for a double.

Tel 072-706-2770, e-mail info@lilanihotsprings.co.za, web www.lilanihotsprings.co.za. The project is promoted by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, tel 031-366-7500, web www.zulu.org.za.