Giba’s History

The GGEP has its first recorded human origins in the Stone Age approximately 100 000 years ago. Evidence for this is documented in archaeological manuscripts housed in the Natal Museum which give details of these communities’ livelihoods at the time. The past two centuries has seen a dramatic change in land use in the area as with KZN and South Africa generally. This change can be attributed to an increase in human population numbers and activities associated with the advent of the industrial revolution and the subsequent colonisation of South Africa. Land uses have evolved from agricultural (both subsistence and commercial) to suburban uses, the latter being more typical of modern times.

Birds eye view of the precinct area in 1937.

The once extensive sandstone grasslands have been mostly transformed in the Hillcrest and Kloof areas in recent times.

Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter

The historical value of the Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter was discovered in 1982 by Dr R R Maud during a geological survey of the proposed N3 toll road.  It was excavated between 5 May – 4 July 1985 to rescue material at the site and to investigate hunter-gatherer / farmer relationships.

The excavation exposed a rich 2.6m deep sequence of cultural deposits of stone artifact assemblages. These assemblages are the first of their kind to be positively identified in Natal.  They show that these assemblages were systematically produced earlier in Natal than anywhere else in Southern Africa.  These deposits contained pottery, stone tools, seeds, beads, shell, bone, ground stone and worked bone objects characterized by a range of tools including natural backed knives and scrapers.

The value of the Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter stone artifact assemblages is in providing evidence of hafting of small composite tools took place perhaps as early as 100 000 years ago. Along with the radiocarbon dates there is evidence of human habitation here 70 000 – 100 000 yrs ago.

At an altitude of 531m, the site is located geologically in the ortho-quartzite horizon of the Natal Supergroup formally known as the Table Mountain Sandstone series.

Facing north, the site is well screened by vegetation. The rock shelter is 43m long, reaches a depth of 6.5m and the maximum roof height is 17m.

The Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter

Anecdotes from the area including McIntosh Falls (Kirkman)
– as told by Gwen Tuttle nee McIntosh 1911 – 2008:

The original trail between the two waterfalls known as Kirkman Falls and McIntosh Falls was designed to be able to be used by James  McIntosh’s wife who was wheelchair bound and used to be pushed up and down this incline by a manservant. No mean feat on his part when you consider the gradient and the cumbersome and heavy wheelchairs of those days.

The Umhlatuzana Rock shelter was used by the McIntosh family as an emergency safe haven in the event of a “Zulu uprising”. It used to be stocked with supplies for such an occasion. They relied on their zulu staff to forewarn them of faction fights and trouble in the area and they would retreat to the shelter until word was brought to them by their staff that all was safe again. Gwen assured us that although the shelter was used for this purpose, the fear that the homestead would be attacked at these times proved groundless as it never was and was always intact on their return.

James B Mc Intosh owned a race horse who was proving costly to train and stable and was not winning his races so he brought him to the farm and employed an inexperienced colored teenage youngster to look after him. The horse grazed on the hill opposite the Falls and was galloped by the youngster up and down the hillside in lieu of training. The horse went on to win numerous races during this period.

Gwen was the only girl to ever attend Highbury school. At the time there was no girls’ school in the area. She says she was the most popular child at the school – not because she was the only girl, but for the fact that she rode her pony to school and it was kept in the playground until she returned home! Everyone wanted to be her friend so that they could ride the pony during recess.

The river above Kirkman Falls was used extensively for family gatherings and boating, and walks were routinely done to the base of McIntosh falls by the entire family.

McIntosh Falls

History of Conservation in the area

The origin of conservation efforts in the area go back to the 1980s when the then Wildlife Society together with local schools in the area took it upon themselves to develop the “Ingweni Trail” meaning “Place of the leopards” named after the many leopards that used to inhabit this area. The trail was a 30km u-shaped route that traversed Mahogany Ridge, Stockville, Giba, Everton and the Krantzkloof Nature Reserve. Parts of this trail are still evident in the Giba Gorge area.

The GGEP was established in July 2009 after being endorsed as a Special Rating Area (SRA) by the eThekwini Municipality.