Dundee’s Lost Tales – The Cannibal’s Gruesome Party
Legend has it that the cannibals would hunt their victims and slice open their ankles, thus severing their tendons, to prevent them from escaping
The days of King Shaka will live in the memory of many.
It was a time of fierce battles and mighty warriors; impi’s and spears.
However, a more sinister side also existed.
In the early 1800’s, the rise of the Zulu kingdom brought turmoil and disruption. Those who chose not to fight in the Zulu war were forced to flee. Or face death. A famine at the same time forced these runaways to take drastic measures to stay alive…Cannibalism.
Legend has it that the cannibals would hunt their victims and slice open their ankles, thus severing their tendons, to prevent them from escaping.
They would then fatten up their catch before making a meal with their flesh.
Places like Southern Natal, Drakensberg, the Eastern Free State and Biggarsberg became famous for cannibalism. So much so that Zulus living in the East said that ‘when the sun went down, it was being devoured by cannibals.’
The most fearsome cannibal chief, Hluphalule, had three homesteads at Biggarsberg. At one of these, a huge rock was used as a pantry, where victims were kept hamstrung.
Later, they would be taken to a lower rock where they would be butchered. The rock is today known as the Rock of the Cannibals. Shaka’s clan were placed nearby to monitor the cannibals, but they soon fell victim to them.
The end of the cannibals came when Dingane sent an army to destroy them in the 1830’s.
