The top end of the Pongola Valley looks splendid in her finery: the grass veld is a lush green, wildflowers are springing up, and the streams are in spate after the first spring rains. To get here from Piet Retief, you travel 55 km along “the most rugged road in the country” and cross the Ntombe River, which joins the Pongola further down the valley. It’s an area that’s not only abundant in water but also in history.
About 8 km from Lüneburg, the rugged road passes by Ntombe Church, an imposing red-brick building constructed in 1860 for one of two mission stations in the area.
In 1854, the Hermannsburg Missionary Society in Germany dispatched, to South Africa, missionaries who built a mission station at the settlement they came to name Hermannsburg.
A second group of missionaries arrived in 1859 to build the stations Ntombe and Ekhombela. They brought with them a group of artisans and workers to help with the construction, but financial pressures later led to their discharge from the mission society. These artisans and their families ultimately settled in the valley – and soon discovered the natural forests growing on the slopes of Ncaga Mountain. They began logging yellowwood and stinkwood trees and selling the wood in Barberton, which enabled them to buy land for farming.
The year 1869 saw the establishment of the Lüneburg congregation, who built a small sod church.
Continuing your journey, the road descends deeper into the valley and, in the distance, at the foot of Ncaga Mountain, the steeple of Lüneburg church emerges among jacaranda trees. The sight will beckon you to look twice, but don’t let it distract your attention from the road. The residents of Lüneburg are keen to improve the roads in the area, but may not do so since the road network falls under state ownerwhip and maintenance.
