Cannibal Route - Visit South Africa with a New Perspective

The act of eating human flesh is more commonly known as cannibalism and it's been around for a very long time. Most of the information about cannibalism in recent times came from the accounts of explorers and missionaries in the 17th through the 20th centuries. There was a mass colonization in Africa, the South Pacific and Western hemisphere during this time and they found cannibalism was common in these areas.

They were surprised to find that much of the cannibalism had very little to do with actual starvation but rather often was practiced for religious reasons, war or as an addition to their diets. Some religious ceremonies were said to have included human sacrifices in which it was made more significant to the Gods if they were to eat portions of their victims. In some cultures it was believed that the soldier took on powerful traits of the defeated enemy by eating him but perhaps the most disturbing find was that some of these cultures considered human meat to be a rare delicacy.

In religious practices and war ethics torture was rarely a factor, however, in the instance of cannibalism for pleasure, it played a major role in the satisfaction of the dining. Mostly victims were killed before being cooked and eaten but when a large amount of people craved human meat, animalistic tendencies were strong and cruelty was the norm. It is perhaps, far from the minds of westerners to conceive of such depravity but it was a reality in those far off regions and in some cases still is a reality.

Today in , the late Nkosi N W Sithole began a crusade to start a tourism project called the"Cannibal Route." He hoped that it would not only financially reward those that participate, but that it would also preserve the history of the community.

The Cannibal route focuses on the uniqueness of the cannibal phenomenon. Guided trails and accommodations help tourists trace the history of the cannibal route, which was an area of land that had been eradicated of cannibals who had raided Zulu communities loyal to the king.