Muthi Market

Durban Muthi Market  is a bustling marketplace that specializes in traditional African medicines and herbs. The medicines are known locally as “Muthi”. It’s a great culturally focussed Durban attraction for those who want to know more about Zulu culture and traditional healing. Even here, in the shadow of Durban’s big city skyscrapers, the buying and selling of traditional Muthi is a big business and Zulu rituals are as much a part of city life as surfing and shipping. The market is a colorful and vibrant place, filled with stalls selling a wide variety of traditional ingredients used in traditional healing and spiritual practices. It’s open from 8am every morning.

The Inyangas and Sangomas (traditional medicine practitioners) often frequent the market to source ingredients for their remedies and The Inyangas (traditional Zulu doctors) offer potions, medicines and other treatments for a wide number of ailments. The Sangomas (the “witch doctors”) are more spiritual in their treatment. You can see there is a big difference between them. Traditional medicines play a big part in Durban culture and life, often used in preference to Western medical treatments.

Most medicines are made from chopped-up barks or roots. Usually patients are advised to make a brew from it, which they ingest and then vomit back up again. They may steam their Muthi to breathe in the fumes, or even bathe in it.

Take your time to enjoy the brilliant colors and exotics smells that pervade your senses here. 

The market is not only a place to buy traditional medicine but also a cultural hub where visitors get a unique opportunity to learn about the beliefs and practices of indigenous African cultures and to witness the blending of ancient traditions with modern life in Durban. 

If you really want to see the cultural side of our amazing city then this is a Durban attraction you should not miss.

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