NKOMBA COTTAGE
Accommodation Services in Scottburgh

The story goes that he wounded a leopard while hunting in 1865 but was in turn mauled very badly by the same animal in the forest. Some sources say that he died in agony but a more reliable one maintains that he used an old sailor’s remedy of bathing his lacerated arm in salt and brandy and made a good recovery. The original farm was a natural parkland of great beauty lying between two rivers, Mkhombe and the Mkumbane, named after the palm trees which line their banks. Kelso is a nearby resort which is named after the village on the river Tweed in southern Scotland. He was the son of a hard-working sugar cane farmer and was sent down, with his brother Charles, to take over the ailing Umzinto Sugar Estate in This neglected estate flourished under their management and was gradually extended to form the sprawling canelands of Reynolds Bros Ltd. (Today Illovo Sugar Company, Sezela) He was a very hard-working and energetic man, finding time to enlist in the Natal Mounted Rifle. Regiment during the Anglo-Boer War, involving himself in gold mining ventures in the Transvaal and serving on the Natal Legislative Council. He was even elected as a member of the Union Parliament in 1915, the highest legislative body in the country. Sir Frank had married Euphemia Young of Edinburgh in 1894 and had two children. The house was to incorporate a tower for spotting cane fires and would serve as a fortress in case of attack from the Zulus, which was something Charles always feared. Charles bought a lighter (flat-bottomed boat) to transport the imported English building materials to Rocky Bay from where they were transported by ox wagon to the site. It has had alterations over the years, the most exciting of which were the renovations in 1951 for the proposed visit of King George VI as Botha House was finally deemed too small. The house remained in family hands until 2002 when the current owner and great grandson of Sir Frank, Ronald Munro Ferguson, had it converted into a boutique hotel, decorated in Indian colonial style. The concrete parking pad is still at the Hall after all these years. It was used in the old days to call the workers for the start of the working day and alert them to tea and lunch breaks. On the land at Lynton is a graveyard where Sir Frank, his daughter, Mary Zoe, his son Lewis and his grandson, Frank Nicholas are buried. In conclusion, it is important for us modern day citizens of South Africa to value the hard work and vision of those pioneering men who have gone before us, such as Sir Frank Reynolds, who not only built up the economy of the country but also made a unique gift to the nation of one of the most beautiful coastal forests to be enjoyed by us all in perpetuity.