Kranskop, KwaZulu-Natal

Kranskop is a small town that is situated on the edge of the Tugela River valley in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1894 as Hopetown but the following confusion with another town of the same name in the Great Karoo, Northern Cape, the name was changed. Kranskop was chosen and is named after two cliff faces that rise 1,175 metres above the Tugela Valley near the town. The name is an Afrikaans word meaning "cliff head."

The Kranskop rock formation has major significance in local Zulu legend and folklore, for whom it is called "Ntunjambili". Stories of a forbidden cave, and the hill opening to allow shelter from cannibals only for it to close on those it had lured. Another similar story is about young girls who, weary of carrying water from the river, asked the mountain to give them sanctuary. It obliged by opening a great cavern and tempting them inside with sounds of revelry. Once inside the cavern the entrance closed and they were seen no more.