Historical Background
For thousands of years Simbithi has attracted visitors during the months when the Highveld is experiencing frosts and snow. Almost all the hilltops on the Estate are covered with late Stone Age relics, consisting of shell middens, pottery fragments, rounded stone and stone flakes. Archaeologists believe the Stone Age people occupied these sites during the winter months, moving back to the Drakensberg area during the summer. There is also evidence of Iron Age activity on the property, particularly near the North-West corner of the Estate, where there was once a smelting site dating back to around AD1200. These Iron and Stone Age dwellers are believed to be the direct ancestors of the Zulu and other African peoples found to inhabit this area by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th Century.
Towards the end of the 18th Century, the Zulus emerged as a dominant power in the region, the entire area overseen by the famous King Shaka from his headquarters at the KwaDakuza. It is thought to be extremely doubtful Simbithi and its immediate surroundings were of any particular interest to Shaka, least of all that "High Rock" was used to throw his victims into the sea. The enterprising Charles De Charmoy, who built the popular Shaka's Rock Hotel in the 1930's, was the initial propagator of such ideas. Following Shaka's assassination by Dingaan in 1828, Chief Mpande established control of the area from the seat of his power in Tongaat, and remained as such until an agreement with the British established the Tugela River as the official boundary between the Colony of Natal and the Kingdom of Zululand.
British ownership established, the British encouraged the immigration of settlers, the incentive for such relocations being a plot of land in the colony allocated for the purposes of farming. The land on which Simbithi now stands was once such a farm, and was under the ownership of two British officers who named it 'Beverley' after their hometown in Yorkshire, England. In 1919 George P Ladlau, whose father had settled in South Africa after enlisting as a signaller during the Anglo-Zulu War, bought the farm at a cost of 2000 pounds, a wagon and a span of oxen. Some years later, Ladlau purchased the adjacent farm "Beachcroft", from Cecil Richie and thus formed "Beverley Estate", ostensibly the land on which Simbithi now stands. The farm boasted a vast acreage of indigenous forest, bush and natural wetlands, as well as two artesian wells, all of which GP Ladlau left untouched. His reasoning was that the only way to protect the farm's water supply was to ensure the surrounding vegetation remained in place. The decision proved to be an inspired one, and was further enforced by George's son, Winston I Ladlau when he assumed control of the farm after returning from the Second World War. The forests adorning Simbithi today are the same ones saved by the Ladlau's policy. In recent times, the Ladlaus and their descendants have made a concerted effort to ensure the indigenous forests and wetlands are not choked by alien vegetation, a proactive move ensuring the areas are not only preserved, but also improved.
The tree after which the Simbithi Eco Estate has been named is the millettia grandis, the Umzimbeet (also umSimbithwa or Umsimbithi). There are large established groves of the trees on both the northern and southern sides of the property, and the narrow, erect spearhead flower sprays provide a purple lining to the forest coverings between November and March.
The Zulus named the tree 'ironwood' because of the extreme density and hardness of the Umzimbeet's wood. This feature of the tree meant it was extremely useful to the Zulu people, insofar as it was the base material from which walking sticks and the more traditional 'knobkerries' were made. European settlers recognised the value of the hard, durable wood of the Umzimbeet tree and used it extensively in the manufacture of their wagons.
The tree also has a number of less conventional uses, owing to the toxins contained in certain parts thereof. The pounded roots of the Umzimbeet was used as a fish poison, although the scientific process of gathering empirical data (trial and error) has revealed fish have to be boiled in order to be safely consumed. The ground seeds that fall from the tree's distinctive golden brown hairy pods, once soaked in milk, are a traditional remedy for roundworm.