Empangeni travel guide

Empangeni is named after the Zulu word of pangaed meaning grabbed – due to many people being taken by crocs on the banks of the Mpangeni River, on which the town is situated. King Shaka grew up in this area before the Norwegian Missionary Society mission station opened in 1851.

The town has developed into a busy industrial centre and has been pulping wood since the first eucalyptus plantations were established in 1905. While many visitors pass through on their way between St Lucia and the Battlefields, there is nothing to merit a stop. Nor is there any reason to follow the R34 east from Empangeni, crossing the N2, towards Richards Bay (18 km), although those using Richards Bay airport might pass through this flat plantation landscape, loomed over by clusters of pylons and the ugly chimneys of industrial complexes. The N2, meanwhile, allows a quick escape north to St Lucia (80 km), and Hluhluwe-Umfolozi (106 km).