Inanda heritage trail: Gandhi's ashram, Ohlange Institute and Durban's hidden history
Why Inanda is underrated and why that matters
Inanda is an area 24 km north of Durban’s city centre, on the edge of the Inanda hills. It is not on the standard tourist circuit. There are no coffee shops with WiFi, no gift shops at the historical sites, and the road from Phoenix to the heritage sites passes through densely populated informal settlements. For visitors whose comfort threshold requires curated infrastructure, Inanda is not the right choice.
For visitors willing to engage with South African history on its own terms, in places that have not been polished for foreign consumption, Inanda is extraordinary. Three of the most significant sites in South African political history are within 3 km of each other here:
- Gandhi’s Phoenix Settlement: where Mohandas Gandhi lived and developed the principles of satyagraha from 1904 to 1914
- The Ohlange Institute: where Nelson Mandela cast his first vote on 27 April 1994, the day of South Africa’s first democratic election
- Inanda Seminary: established 1869, one of the earliest schools for Black girls in southern Africa, still operating as a school
This combination — Indian independence movement philosophy, African liberation, and women’s education — in one small geographic cluster is improbable and important.
Gandhi’s Phoenix Settlement
The Phoenix Settlement (officially the Natal Indian Congress Cooperative Society, later Phoenix Settlement Trust) was established by Gandhi in 1904 on land purchased with the proceeds of selling the journal Indian Opinion, which he had been editing in Durban.
Gandhi was in Durban from 1893 to 1914 — his most formative years as a political thinker. The Natal period is where he developed satyagraha: the principle that truth-force, non-violent resistance, was more powerful than violence and more sustainable than conventional politics. This was not a philosophy he arrived with from India. He developed it in Durban in response to the specific experience of racial discrimination in the British colony.
The settlement was designed as a cooperative community — residents shared land and resources, operated the printing press for Indian Opinion, and lived according to principles of simplicity, self-sufficiency, and non-exploitation. It became a model for Tolstoy Farm (established near Johannesburg in 1910) and ultimately for the Indian ashrams Gandhi established after returning to India.
The 1985 riots: the Phoenix Settlement was almost entirely destroyed in the Inanda riots of August 1985 — violence that erupted in the context of increasing inter-community tensions in KZN that the apartheid government actively fomented (the “Third Force” violence that seeded conflict between Indian and Black communities in Natal is well-documented in subsequent Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings). The Gandhi Luthuli Peace Foundation rebuilt the settlement in the 1990s. The restored Memorial House and printing press are accessible to visitors.
Access: The Phoenix Settlement (59 Bharat Bhavan Road, Inanda) is open Monday-Saturday, 8am-4:30pm. Entry is free; donations are welcomed. The caretaker is typically present and provides context. There is no café or significant infrastructure — bring water.
The Ohlange Institute
The Ohlange Institute, established in 1900 by Reverend John Langalibalele Dube — the first president of the ANC (then the South African Native National Congress, founded 1912) — was the first institution of its kind in Natal to offer vocational and academic education to Black Africans on a non-missionary denominational basis.
Dube studied at Oberlin College in Ohio on scholarship and returned to Natal with the explicit purpose of establishing an institution modelled on Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute — practical skills training alongside academic education. The Ohlange Institute taught carpentry, printing, farming, and academic subjects to boys from across Natal.
On 27 April 1994 — the day South Africa’s first democratic election opened — Nelson Mandela came to Ohlange to cast his vote. He did not go to the polling station nearest to his residence or hotel. He went to Ohlange specifically so that he could lay flowers on John Dube’s grave before voting. Dube is buried in the grounds. The voting booth where Mandela cast his vote is preserved.
This act of deliberate historical connection — the first president of the ANC, the first president of democratic South Africa, voting at the school established by the first president of the founding organisation — is the kind of historical symmetry that usually happens only in novels. At Ohlange, it happened.
Access: Ohlange is a working school. Visitors require advance permission to access the heritage sites within the school grounds. Contact the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education or the Ohlange Institute directly. The 1000 Hills Cultural Tourism cooperative can arrange accompanied visits.
Inanda Seminary
Established in 1869 by American Board Mission women, the Inanda Seminary is one of the oldest schools for girls in southern Africa. It was co-educational in intent even in 1869, providing academic education rather than domestic training — which made it unusual in the colonial context where women’s “education” typically meant preparation for household service.
Among its alumnae: Nokutela Dube (John Dube’s wife and a prominent educational activist in her own right), and several generations of women who became teachers, nurses, and community leaders across KZN. The school’s role in producing an educated Black female professional class in KZN is disproportionate to its size.
The school is still operating. The historical buildings from the 1870s-1890s period are on the grounds. Access for visitors requires advance arrangement.
Getting there and ethical operator context
1000 Hills Community Hosts is the appropriate operator for all three Inanda sites. They have relationships with the communities and institutions here, they employ local guides from the Inanda/Phoenix area, and they can arrange the advance permissions that the Ohlange Institute and Inanda Seminary require.
The standard Inanda heritage half-day tour covers the Phoenix Settlement, Ohlange Institute, and passes through the Inanda community with contextual stops at local food vendors and craft workers. Cost is approximately ZAR 550-700 per person (2026).
For Durban-based broader cultural context:
Mandela Capture Site, Howick Falls and PheZulu Village day tripThis tour covers the Mandela Capture Site (Howick, approximately 90 km from Durban) and optionally adds the Inanda area. Mandela was captured near Howick on 5 August 1962, having been in hiding as the “Black Pimpernel.” The capture site on the R103 near Howick has a modest memorial and interpretive centre. It is less visited than the Joburg heritage sites and carries a different weight — the road where the disguised Mandela was stopped at a roadblock by a young police informant.
The Inanda riots context
Any honest account of Inanda must acknowledge the 1985 riots and what they represent. In July-August 1985, violence erupted in the Phoenix and Inanda areas between Indian and Black African communities, leaving approximately 70 people dead and forcing 100,000 Indian residents to flee the area permanently.
The background is complex: economic competition for land and housing, deliberate destabilisation by government-linked Third Force operatives, and longstanding community tensions that the apartheid system had cultivated over decades. The violence is cited by some as an example of “Black-on-Indian” conflict; more accurate analysis treats it as the consequence of deliberate government-fomented community division (the tricameral parliament of 1984, which gave Coloured and Indian voters limited rights while excluding Black Africans, specifically created resentment).
The Gandhi Settlement’s destruction in the riots adds a layer of historical irony that any guide should acknowledge: the site of Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence and interracial cooperation was destroyed in communal violence that Gandhi’s political successors would have condemned.
FAQ
Is Inanda easily accessible from Durban hotels?
By car: 24 km north of Durban’s city centre, 30-45 minutes via the M25 and Inanda Road. Not accessible by public transport in any practical tourist sense. Use a guided tour with pickup or self-drive.
Is the Inanda area safe for visitors?
With a local guide during daylight hours: yes. Independent driving through the informal settlement areas without local knowledge is not advised. The heritage sites themselves are all within managed or semi-managed environments during visiting hours.
How does this compare with Soweto as a township heritage experience?
Very different scale and emphasis. Soweto is a major metropolitan area with well-developed tourist infrastructure. Inanda is smaller, less polished, and offers a different historical thread — the Indian independence movement, the pre-ANC education tradition, the first democratic vote. They are complementary, not competing.
Can I combine Inanda with the Durban Indian Quarter in one day?
Yes, comfortably. Morning in the Indian Quarter (Grey Street, Juma Mosque, Victoria Street Market, bunny chow lunch), afternoon at Inanda with the 1000 Hills Community Hosts tour. Return to Durban by 6pm. ZAR 500-800 for the afternoon tour, ZAR 80-120 for lunch.
