Zulus, thousands of 'em – yes that's right we've been to Rorke's Drift. But firstly we must return to Durban and the tail of woe with the latest hire car.
We'd booked a 4x4 through an agent specificity because we wanted to go up the Sani pass into Lesotho (the SA boarder will not let you up in an unsuitable car). The actual rental firm was Hertz, and this is when it all started to go wrong. The car was a Nissian Hardbody, fine, except there appeared to be no shifter for the 4WD. The sour faced cow at the Hilton Hertz had no idea – in fact there was no shifter because it was a 2WD. After some phone calls they found an Isuzu that was due back at the airport in 2 hours. Two-and-a-half hours later the car arrived at the airport. After past experience I checked the spare under the car – it would not release. Three blokes from Hertz spend the next 30 minutes shoving a rode into the back of the car to no avail. They then tried to offer us a Kia automatic, which is just a Chelsea tractor; we refused. The Hertz manager drove us to the dealership in Durban. After some considerable time, the mechanics lifted the car on the hydrolic jack, and continued to stare at the spare wheel. Eventually a crowbar was brought in and the wheel made it off. So seven hours after picking up the first car, and with the spare wheel now in the back, we drove into rush hour traffic leaving Durban for the four-and-a-half hour drive north. What a fun day.
This part of KwaZulu Natal is littered with battlefields from wars fought between the British, the Boers and the Zulu Nation.
This part of KwaZulu Natal is littered with battlefields from wars fought between the British, the Boers and the Zulu Nation. First stop was the Talana museum in Dundee. This is the site of the first battle of the second Boer war, in 1899. Along with some historic buildings, Talana house has a display on all the conflicts fought in KZN.
After that it was on to Blood River, where in 1838 a group of Boer trekkers (voortrekkers) successfully repelled an attack by 12,000 Zulu warriors by forming a fortified circle (laarger) with their wagons – the counter attack left the river running red with the blood of 1000 Zulus; hence the name. The battle has an almost religious significance for some Afrikaners, who view the vow taken the night before the battle as prove of God's hand in the victory (December 16th was celebrated as the Day of the Vow, until the democratic South Africa changed it to the Day of Reconsideration). The site is somewhat bizarrely marked by 64 full-sized copper wagons depicting the laarger – whilst it's suppose to be a sombre place, it comes out a bit Disneyesque.
We took the gravel roads between the battlefields, which wind through fairly rural areas complete with rondavels (this time unpainted) and a constant stream of cows blocking the road. Next up was Insandhlwana, scene of a massive British military disaster. In 1879 British forces under Lord Chelmsford invaded Zululand, after the Zulus failed to capitulate to British demands. The central column of some 1,770 men crossed the boarder from Natal at Rorke's Drift, and camped at the base of the Insandhlwana hill, but did not fortify the area. A British scouting party were therefore quite alarmed to find 25,000 Zulu's siting in a valley to the north. The Zulu's attacked immediately, quickly cut off any chance of retreat, and after several hours overran the camp; barely a handful of Redcoats made it out alive.
Today the site is a massive grave yard - the Zulus buried their 1,000 dead at the scene, leaving the 1,357 British to be buried a few months later when fresh forces arrived (a truly horrendous job I imagine). There are a dozen or so marked graves, presumably those with rich enough families, but the rest are just marked with plies of whitewashed stones.
Just 10 miles away is Rorke's Drift, the second part of the story. Desperate to see action, and group of 4000 Zulus who'd missed out at Insandhlwana, disobeyed orders, crossed into Natal on the same day, and attached the mission station at Rorke's Drift. The station was garrisoned by 100 members of the 24th Warwickshire, some of whom were hospitalised. For twelve hours they fought off the attack, earning eleven Victoria Crosses. The film wrongly depicts a welsh unit (there were actually 37 welsh men at Rorke's Drift), but it only became the Royal Brecon two years after the battle. Nor, disappointingly did they sing Men of Harlech to the withdrawing Zulus.
From Dundee we dropped back south to the Drakensberg along a gravel road. As we planed to head up the Sani Pass (notoriously steep and rough) into Lesotho the next day, I tried out the 4WD. For reasons best known to themselves Isuzu's now have electronic shift on the 4WD, which refused to engage the system. After running with the freewheeling hubs locked for 20km (as per the manual) we tried again – the 4WD light lit, quickly followed by the Check 4WD warning light. Another flick though the manual had the helpful advice, “take the car to a dealership”.
The guy at the Sani Pass lodge, who has ran trips into Lesotho for the pass 13 years, suggested that trying the pass in 2WD was risky – we may make it, but he'd never tried it himself. After dozen phone calls and 30 hours later, a bloke from Hertz turned up with a replacement car – a Toyota Hilux. This of course knocked a day off out time in Lesotho, with a consolation of allowing us time to do a short hike in the Drakensberg.
Just 10 miles away is Rorke's Drift, the second part of the story. Desperate to see action, and group of 4000 Zulus who'd missed out at Insandhlwana, disobeyed orders, crossed into Natal on the same day, and attached the mission station at Rorke's Drift. The station was garrisoned by 100 members of the 24th Warwickshire, some of whom were hospitalised. For twelve hours they fought off the attack, earning eleven Victoria Crosses. The film wrongly depicts a welsh unit (there were actually 37 welsh men at Rorke's Drift), but it only became the Royal Brecon two years after the battle. Nor, disappointingly did they sing Men of Harlech to the withdrawing Zulus.
From Dundee we dropped back south to the Drakensberg along a gravel road. As we planed to head up the Sani Pass (notoriously steep and rough) into Lesotho the next day, I tried out the 4WD. For reasons best known to themselves Isuzu's now have electronic shift on the 4WD, which refused to engage the system. After running with the freewheeling hubs locked for 20km (as per the manual) we tried again – the 4WD light lit, quickly followed by the Check 4WD warning light. Another flick though the manual had the helpful advice, “take the car to a dealership”.
The guy at the Sani Pass lodge, who has ran trips into Lesotho for the pass 13 years, suggested that trying the pass in 2WD was risky – we may make it, but he'd never tried it himself. After dozen phone calls and 30 hours later, a bloke from Hertz turned up with a replacement car – a Toyota Hilux. This of course knocked a day off out time in Lesotho, with a consolation of allowing us time to do a short hike in the Drakensberg.
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