Inkanyamba

Last updated

Inkanyamba
First attestedDanish, South Africa
Country South Africa
RegionHowick Falls
DetailsFound in water

The Inkanyamba is a legendary serpent said to be living in a waterfall lake area in the northern forests near Pietermaritzburg most commonly in the base of Howick Falls, South Africa. The Zulu people of the area believe it to be a large serpent with an equine head. It is a very tall creature. Most active in the summer months, it is believed that the Inkanyamba's anger causes the seasonal storms. [1] [2]

Howick Falls Howick-Falls-November-2009.jpg
Howick Falls

The Zulu people believed that when you make eye contact with the Inkanyamba you are in danger of losing your life.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaka</span> King of the Zulu Kingdom (1787–1828)

Shaka kaSenzangakhona kaJama, also known as Shaka Zulu and Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1816 to 1828. One of the most influential monarchs of the Zulu, he ordered wide-reaching reforms that reorganized the military into a formidable force.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zulu people</span> A Nguni ethnic group in Southern Africa

Zulu people are a native people of Southern Africa of the Nguni. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 13.56 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zulu language</span> Nguni language of eastern South Africa and neighbouring countries

Zulu, or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken and indigenous to Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 13.56 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa, and it is understood by over 50% of its population. It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KwaZulu-Natal</span> Province in South Africa

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traditional healers of Southern Africa</span> Practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa

Traditional healers of Southern Africa are practitioners of traditional African medicine in Southern Africa. They fulfill different social and political roles in the community like divination, healing physical, emotional, and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals, finding lost cattle, protecting warriors, counteracting witchcraft and narrating the history, cosmology, and concepts of their tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durban</span> Third largest city in South Africa

Durban is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South Africa, on the Natal Bay of the Indian Ocean, Durban is South Africa's busiest port and was formerly named Port Natal. North of the harbour and city centre lies the mouth of the Umgeni River; the flat city centre rises to the hills of the Berea on the west; and to the south, running along the coast, is the Bluff. Durban is the seat of the larger eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which spans an area of 2,556 km2 (987 sq mi) and had a population of 4.2 million in 2022, making the metropolitan population one of Africa's largest on the Indian Ocean. The city has a humid subtropical climate, with hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serpent Mound</span> Prehistoric effigy mound in Ohio, United States

The Great Serpent Mound is a 1,348-feet-long (411 m), three-feet-high prehistoric effigy mound located in Peebles, Ohio. It was built on what is known as the Serpent Mound crater plateau, running along the Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio. The mound is the largest serpent effigy known in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsonga people</span> Bantu ethnic group in Africa

The Tsonga people are a Bantu ethnic group primarily native to Southern Mozambique and South Africa. They speak Xitsonga, a Southern Bantu language. A very small number of Tsonga people are also found in Zimbabwe and Northern Eswatini. The Tsonga people of South Africa share some history with the Tsonga people of Southern Mozambique, and have similar cultural practices, but differ in the dialects spoken.

The doctrine of the serpent seed, also known as the dual-seed or the two-seedline doctrine, is a controversial and fringe Christian religious belief which explains the biblical account of the fall of man by stating that the Serpent mated with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was Cain. This event resulted in the creation of two races of people: the wicked descendants of the Serpent who were destined for damnation, and the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have eternal life. The doctrine frames human history as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of the Serpent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umlazi</span> Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Umlazi is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, located south-west of Durban. Organisationally and administratively it forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and its South Municipal Planning Region.

Unkulunkulu (/uɲɠulun'ɠulu/), often formatted as uNkulunkulu, is a mythical ancestor, mythical predecessor group, or Supreme Creator in the language of the Zulu, Ndebele and Swati people. Originally a "first ancestor" figure, Unkulunkulu morphed into a creator god figure with the spread of Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howick Falls</span> Waterfall in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Howick Falls is a waterfall in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The waterfall is approximately 95 m in height (310 feet) and lies on the Umgeni River. The Zulu people called the falls KwaNogqaza, which means "Place of the Tall One".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thokoza</span> Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Thokoza, alternatively rendered Tokoza, is a township in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. Thokoza is at the location of the now-defunct Palmietfontein Airport. It is situated south east of Alberton, adjacent to Katlehong. Thokoza was the first black township which was established in the South. During the early 1990s Thokoza was the middle of unrest between the supporters of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bantu peoples of South Africa</span> Ethnic descriptor in South Africa

South African Bantu-speaking peoples represent the majority ethno-racial group of South Africans. Occasionally grouped as Bantu, the term itself is derived from the English word "people", common to many of the Bantu languages. The Oxford Dictionary of South African English describes "Bantu", when used in a contemporary usage or racial context as "obsolescent and offensive", because of its strong association with the "white minority rule" with their Apartheid system. However, Bantu is used without pejorative connotations in other parts of Africa and is still used in South Africa as the group term for the language family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nguni people</span> Southern African Bantu cultural group

The Nguni people are a linguistic cultural group that migrated to South Africa, made up of Bantu ethnic groups from central Africa, with offshoots in neighboring countries in Southern Africa. Swazi people live in both South Africa and Eswatini, while Ndebele people live in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zulu Kingdom</span> 1816–1897 state in southern Africa

The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large following which ruled a wide expanse of Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to the Pongola River in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bantu religion</span> Beliefs and legends of the Bantu people

Bantu religion is the system of beliefs and legends of the Bantu people of Africa. Although Bantu peoples account for several hundred different ethnic groups, there is a high degree of homogeneity in Bantu cultures and customs, just as in Bantu languages. Many Bantu cultures traditionally believed in a supreme god whose name is a variation of Nyambe/Nzambe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twa</span> Group of African Pygmy peoples

The Twa are a group of indigenous Central African foragers tribes. These cultural groups were formerly called Pygmies by European writers, but the term is no longer preferred based on its cultural and geographic inaccuracy, as well as being seen as pejorative. Cultural groups are being reclassified by themselves based on their function in society, lineage, and land ties.

The Zulu sheep breed is native to South Africa and is predominantly raised by rural farmers in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It serves primarily as a source of food and income to poor resource farmers. It belongs to the Nguni type of sheep together with the Pedi and the Swazi sheep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 South African unrest</span> Riots after Jacob Zumas imprisonment, 9 to 18 July 2021

The 2021 South African unrest, also known as the July 2021 riots, the Zuma unrest or Zuma riots, was a wave of civil unrest that occurred in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces from 9 to 18 July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court. Resulting protests against the incarceration triggered wider rioting and looting, much of it said to be undertaken by people not in support of Zuma and fuelled by job layoffs and economic inequality worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic policies. The unrest began in the province of KwaZulu-Natal on the evening of 9 July, and spread to the province of Gauteng on the evening of 11 July, and was the worst violence that South Africa had experienced since the end of Apartheid.

References

  1. Exelby, Narina (March 2004). "Legends of the deep". Gateway to Africa. Archived from the original on 13 January 2006. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  2. Regional Knowledge Sharing Exchange Visit (PDF) (Report). Pemba, Mozambique: Global Adaptation Network, Durban Adaptation Charter, United Nations. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2021.