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Kloof Accommodation: Nearby towns with accommodation:
Assagay Accommodation | Bothas Hill Accommodation | Gillitts Accommodation
Hillcrest Accommodation | Winston Park Accommodation | Durban Accommodation
Kloof is a leafy, middle- to upper class suburb and small town, that includes a smaller area called Everton, in the greater Durban area of eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The word Kloof (cleft) means 'gorge' in Afrikaans and the area is named after the deep ravine formed by the Molweni stream (stream of high cliffs). The Kloof Gorge is part of the 4.47 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi) Krantzkloof Nature Reserve.
Kloof extends from the top of Field's Hill and borders Winston Park, Gillitts, Forest Hills and Hillcrest. These suburbs are collectively known as the Upper Highway Area or the Outer West region of Durban.
The M13 highway (built in the 1940s) intersects Kloof and on 16 June this forms part of the route of the annual Comrades Marathon, an approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) ultra-marathon run between Pietermaritzburg and Durban since 1924.
Kloof was originally called 'Krantzkloof' by J C Field the First, after the nearby Kloof Gorge, but this name was later changed to 'Kloof' at the special request of the General Manager of the Railways, since due to a name similarity with Kranskop there had been significant confusion and misdeliveries of railway goods: the Railway Station was therefore renamed, and the town with it. The current Station building is a replacement of an earlier one, built in 1896, and it remained operational until the closure of this branch of the Durban-Pietermaritzburg railway line to passenger traffic in the 1970s; the building is now being utilised as a popular bar restaurant.
As roads improved, an increasing number of people began permanently living in Kloof and during the 1960s and 1970s, the development of the traditional Kloof houses occurred. These consisted of large houses that were built on stands of at least one acre (0.4 ha). Many of the houses have slate roofs, a swimming pool, small guest houses and tennis courts and they are often tucked away amidst the trees.
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