Kranskop is a small town that is situated on the edge of the Thukela River valley in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1894 as Hopetown but following confusion with another town of the same name in the Great Karoo, Northern Cape, the name was changed. Kranskop was chosen and is named after two cliff faces that rise 1,175 metres above the Thukela Valley near the town. The name is an Afrikaans word meaning "cliff head."