Natural Health: the Fordoun Spa in South Africa by Jini Reddy

I’m in a darkened hut, and the man sitting opposite me is shaking a leather pouch of ‘bones’ (bits of shells, jaguar and crow’s teeth, and the odd animal bone) onto the floor. He peers at them intently – they are a divination tool – while I hold my breath. Then, he points to the scattered objects, and launches into some uncannily accurate remarks about my life, before making one or two hair-raising predictions.  

The jovial soothsayer is Dr. Elliot Ndlovu, a sangoma, a zulu spiritual healer, and Inyanga , i.e. medicinal healer.  He is a director at Fordoun, one of South Africa’s top-rated spas (and has even travelled as far as LA to give readings to a bevy of A-list stars in the lead-up to last year’s Oscars.)

Ubuntu

Located on a former dairy farm in the gorgeous rolling hills of Kwazulu Natal province’s Midlands, and surrounded by a working beef cattle farm, Fordoun is not your average wellbeing escape. It’s family-owned and its motto is ‘Ubuntu’, a Zulu phrase that roughly translates as ‘treat others as you yourself would like to be treated’. It shows too: from the minute I arrive, I am greeted with genuine warmth by the staff.  

My villa, one of just seventeen, is in rustic-looking buildings that used to be part of a dairy farm. It’s got all the usual mod cons though, including underfloor heating, if you come in winter, and a giant TV screen that I vow not to turn on. (Far nicer to listen to the cry of the mating peacocks that perch, god-like on the villa roofs.)

I arrive at lunch, and after a scrumptious Thai chicken salad in Skye, Fordoun’s restaurant, I make a beeline for the spa, which features the usual assortment of wraps, facials and massages but with an African twist: many of them feature concoctions and oils drawn from the indigenous healing plants in the impressive on-site garden.

Cleansing and Exfoliating

After using the gym and pool, I have my first treatment, the African Experience. Lisa, the therapist, has me inhaling an oil extracted from the Artemisia plant, known for its ability to clear sinuses, congestion, colds and coughs, as well as cure (and prevent) malaria. Next, she smothers me in a cleansing and exfoliating rasul clay, which Eliot later tells me is gathered from a mountain in the Drakensberg range under a full moon. (Apparently, as gravitational pull is stronger during a full moon, nutrients rise to the top layer of clay.).

While my body is absorbing its goodness, Lisa gives me the most delicious scalp massage. After I shower off, there’s another massage using heavenly herbal compresses, containing fresh Artemisia herbs – bliss. My next treatment is a Nduku Nduku massage, which is administered with wooden ‘knob-kerry’ sticks, traditionally a Zulu warrior’s weapon. On my back, they feel like hot stones and deliver a deep, penetrating massage.

That evening, I’m in too cosy a mood for formal dining, so I order room service, delicious gorgonzola fritters with rocket and mushroom salad, and a huge roasted trout stuffed with vegetables, before conking out on the huge bed. 

Deeply Nourishing

In the morning, after a bowl of muesli, I head off for my consultation with the sangoma. ‘My ancestors came to me in dreams and visions, and it is they who led me to my calling as a healer,’ says Elliot, after my reading. In his vast garden, among the 130 or so healing plants, is the intriguingly named Wild Dagga, used to cure skin disorders, along with Crinum, a fertility-boosting plant, and the immune-boosting African Potato plant.  

In the afternoon, I take a lovely hike to a bird and flower-filled paradise on the vast property, part of which happens to be a (now protected) breeding habitat for the endangered long-billed Wattled Crane and Oribi, a small antelope, one or two of which I am lucky to spot.

There are all sorts of activities that Fordoun can arrange, from ballooning, to trout fishing, to visits to game reserves, and Zulu villages – but I plump for riding on a nearby estate. Riding across the veld, under a blue sky is the perfect end to my all-too brief, but deeply nourishing and reviving stay in a spa well worth crossing continents for.

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