The architecture of uMgungundlovu reflected the power structure of the Zulu state. Huts stood six to eight deep, forming a massive ring around an open central area used as a cattle kraal, military parade ground, and gathering space. A strong defensive palisade enclosed the circle both inside and out. The main entrance, on the northern, lower side of the slope, was split into two sections to control the flow of people entering and leaving. Narrow passages in the palisade regulated access throughout the complex. From the main gate, warrior regiments occupied huts stretching around the circle: four regiments under the command of chief Ndlela on the eastern side, and forces under Dambuza to the west. Stilted huts scattered among them stored the warriors' shields.

The royal enclosure occupied the southern, highest ground of the complex, directly opposite the main entrance. Here, behind its own palisade fence, lived the king, his mistresses, female attendants, and other members of the court, at least 500 people in all. Dingane never married officially, but the women of his household were organized into two groups called the black and the white. The black consisted of roughly 100 privileged women, including the king's favoured companions, who had their own private settlement behind the main complex. The huts in this section were arranged in compartments of three, enclosed by two-metre hedges of intertwined withes that created a network of private passages. Dingane's own hut was large enough to accommodate 50 people. Modern archaeological excavations found its floor was approximately 10 metres in diameter, with evidence of 22 large supporting posts entirely covered in glass beads.

Northeast of the kraal stands the ridge called kwaMatiwane, Execution Hill. It takes its name from chief Matiwane, who around 1829 was executed there with his followers for defying Dingane's authority. The British missionary Francis Owen, who lived a short distance away during the 1830s, recorded the vultures circling over newly slain bodies as a regular sight. It was on or near this hill that members of the Voortrekker delegation led by Piet Retief met their deaths in February 1838, after Retief had negotiated a land agreement with Dingane. The killings of Retief and his party, followed by attacks on Voortrekker encampments, set in motion a chain of violence that culminated in the Battle of Blood River later that year. These events remain deeply painful in the memory of multiple communities. The site of Retief's grave, nearly forgotten for decades, was identified in 1896 by J. H. Hattingh, a surviving member of Pretorius' commando, and a memorial was erected there in 1922.

Dingane had taken power in 1828 by assassinating his half-brother Shaka, and his own end carried a grim symmetry. After his forces were decisively defeated by the Boers at the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, Dingane's authority eroded. He was assassinated by leaders within his own people during a military expedition, and his half-brother Mpande succeeded him as king. uMgungundlovu itself was abandoned and eventually destroyed. What remains today are archaeological traces and reconstructed elements that hint at the scale of a settlement that was, for roughly a decade, the political and military heart of one of southern Africa's most powerful kingdoms. The beaded posts, the encircling huts, the hill where the vultures gathered: these fragments of a vanished capital speak to a place where power was exercised, contested, and ultimately lost.