[category]
[title]
Driving through Bhambayi on our way to the Phoenix Settlement, I wasn't quite prepared for what we'd find at the end of the road.
We had come to Inanda as part of our Durban Township Experience, and this was the heritage leg of the tour. I knew we were going to learn about Mahatma Gandhi's time in South Africa. What I hadn't anticipated was how much the journey to the site itself would stay with me.
Then we arrived.
Read: Durban Beyond the Beach|Part 1 of 4
The Phoenix Settlement is beautifully restored and peaceful, preserving an important part of Gandhi's South African story. There are museum displays, photographs, and buildings connected to the community he established here more than 120 years ago.
And then you look across the road.
There is an informal settlement right there.
The contrast is difficult to ignore. On one side is a carefully preserved heritage site telling a story recognised around the world. On the other, families are living with the realities of poverty in present-day Durban.
It was jarring.
And it made me want to understand more about where we were.
Gandhi's Inanda story
Gandhi established the Phoenix Settlement in 1904. It became a home and a place where some of his ideas around communal living, self-sufficiency, and service could be put into practice.
It was also home to the printing press that produced Indian Opinion, the newspaper Gandhi founded in South Africa.
Decades later, Phoenix would go through a difficult period of its own.
The settlement was badly damaged during the violence that swept through Inanda in 1985. About 8,000 people subsequently settled informally in the area in what became known as Bhambayi, while several buildings at Phoenix, including Gandhi's house, were later restored.
Suddenly, what I had seen outside made more sense.
The informal settlement wasn't simply an uncomfortable backdrop to a heritage attraction. The community around Phoenix is part of the more recent history of the place.
Wait, you can do what in Inanda?
The history wasn't the only thing that caught me off guard that day.
At some point during the tour, the conversation turned to what else there is to do in Inanda.
Quad biking was mentioned.
I remember thinking: In Inanda?
It probably says as much about my own perception of the area as anything else.
I've lived in Durban long enough to know Inanda, but much of what those of us who don't live there tend to hear about the area isn't connected to tourism.
Yet around Inanda Dam, you can get onto a quad bike and head along dirt tracks through the hills. There are also opportunities to hike, mountain bike, canoe, fish and enjoy other watersports.
I genuinely didn't know that.
And I'm willing to bet I'm not the only Durbanite who doesn't.
Inanda Dam Adventures in Maphephetheni offers guided quad-bike routes through the area, while eNanda Adventure Park sits on the shores of the dam, where Durban Tourism lists canoeing, fishing, waterskiing, mountain biking and hiking among the activities available.
There are even hiking routes through the wider landscape, including towards uMzinyathi Falls, while a newer multi-day trail passes through eNanda Adventure Park and continues through Inanda Valley.
All of this is less than an hour from central Durban.
For a city that is very good at directing visitors towards its beaches, there is a lot happening inland that doesn't always get the same attention.
That was exactly the kind of discovery I'd hoped to make when we started travelling beyond the beachfront.
Then there is Ohlange
A short drive away is Ohlange Institute, founded by John Langalibalele Dube in 1901.
Dube would later become the first president of the South African Native National Congress, which became the African National Congress.
Read: Durban is looking beyond the beachfront for its next tourism boost
More than 90 years after Ohlange opened, another chapter of South African history unfolded here.
On April 27, 1994, Nelson Mandela came to Ohlange to cast his vote in South Africa's first democratic election.
It was the first time Mandela had ever voted.
Afterwards, he visited Dube's grave nearby.
Knowing that story is one thing. Being at Ohlange and seeing where it happened brings it much closer.
This wasn't somewhere I'd travelled hours out of Durban to find.
It was Inanda.
And the history stretches beyond Mandela's visit. Gandhi's Phoenix Settlement and Dube's Ohlange were established within a few kilometres of each other at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Today, both form part of an Inanda Heritage Route that also takes in Inanda Seminary and Ebuhleni, an important centre of the Shembe Church.
That's a lot of South African history sitting in one part of Durban.
The Inanda I didn't know
I left Inanda thinking about how easily we decide we know a place without ever really experiencing it.
I knew where Inanda was. I knew its name. I knew the stories that tend to make the news.
I didn't know you could spend a morning following the histories of Gandhi, Dube and Mandela and then go quad biking overlooking Inanda Dam.
I didn't expect to drive through Bhambayi and arrive at such a beautifully restored heritage site. Nor did I expect the informal settlement opposite it to make me think as much about present-day Durban as the museum made me think about its past.
It wasn't about pretending the challenges facing Inanda don't exist. You can see some of them for yourself.
But they aren't the entire story.
There is history here that helped shape South Africa. There is a beautiful landscape around the dam. There are outdoor experiences sitting practically on our doorstep that many Durbanites probably don't know exist.
Turns out, I was one of them.
Our next stop would take us away from museums and monuments and into another side of township life.
And this time, we'd need an appetite.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What: Inanda Heritage Route
Where: Inanda, Durban
Heritage highlights: Phoenix Settlement and Ohlange Institute
Also in the area: Inanda Dam, quad biking, mountain biking, hiking, canoeing, fishing and watersports
Why it's worth your time: Even if you think you know Inanda, there's a good chance you haven't experienced this side of it.
TIME OUT DURBAN RECOMMENDS:
📍 The best things to do in Durban
🍽 The best restaurants in Durban
🏨 The best hotels in Durban
🛏️ Where to stay in Durban
📢 Latest news from Durban
Follow Time Out Durban on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok! To get the coolest news, features, and things to do straight to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.