Babanango is a small town located about 58 kilometers north-west of Melmoth[2] in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa.

The popular story goes that many years ago a small Buthelezi child got lost on the slopes of the mist-shrouded hill and when an elder brother found him he shouted, "baba, nango", meaning "Father, there he is".

eMakhosini, located in the Mkhumbane Valley on the banks of a tributary of the White Umfolozi River near the town of Babanango, is the site of one of Zulu king King Dingane kaSenzangakhona's great royal kraals, UmGungundlovu, where Piet Retief and his Voortrekkers were massacred in 1838.

The settlement of Babanango was originally part of a land grant to European farmers in 1885 by King Dinizulu for their support after his father's death the year before.

[2] The town's name is the title of the song "Baba Nango" on Juluka's sixth album Work For All.