We woke to a rather misty morning. It was a pity that the messy owl had stayed away as we got up twice during the night to look for him. It was not as cold as we had expected, probably because of the light cloud and morning mist. Decided to go straight to the battlefields and soon found the turnoff to Rorke' Drift. The road was initially quite rough, but improved a bit as we joined another approach road from Dundee. We first turned towards Rorke's Drift Lodge. It is beautifully situated overlooking the Buffalo River and is trying to be very fancy, but the building's external appearance lets it down.
Rorke's Drift was just as it was before. We paid R25 for pensioners. The museum in the old house (used as a hospital during the battle) is excellent and does a wonderful job of explaining the battle. We enjoyed morning coffee in the picnic area and then followed the walking route around the site which was very interesting indicating where the positions that were during the battle. We also looked at the British memorial, the new Zulu memorial and graveyard, the latter looking most forgotten. We then decided to go up to the bell on the ridge above the buildings. We had super views from up there and my ankle felt better than it has been for three months.
Now we continued along the road towards Fugitives Drift. This lead through rural farming areas till we got to the gate to Fugitives Drift Lodge. From there it was pristine bush to the lodge. It has a beautiful setting with the Buffalo River fringing it on three sides. We had coffee, chatted to Claire and Ryan Lategan, the lodge managing couple, who were very interested in our Cruiser since they had spent a year travelling through Africa. We looked at the rooms and went to the library from where there is a spectacular view of the Buffalo River gorge.
We next drove towards the drift and had lunch below the monument to Melville and Coghill who were killed there trying to escape with the regimental colours. Seeing the ruggedness of the terrain away from the road makes one realize how little chance they had of escaping from the Zulu hordes. We climbed up to the simple cross and pondered the stupidity of of the Zulu war and wars in general. Back to the car (again my ankle felt good) and we headed for Isandlawana. The connecting road is quite short, about 20 km, and in fair condition with a number of very slow vehicles along the way. At Isandlawana the first stop is the visitor centre where the entry fee of R 25 (pensioners rate otherwise R 35) is paid. This centre is also very good, but as we were quite late we had to have a fairly cursory look. A pity! Then we drove into the battle site. It is exactly as it was 20 odd years ago. The numerous piles of white stones marking the burial sites (more than 1000 British soldiers and camp followers died here) give an indication of the magnitude of the defeat. And probably as many Zulus died as well. From the high ground below the peak it's possible to make out the various events that unfolded on that fateful day. There are also a number of individual memorials to various groups. From here we stopped at the new Zulu memorial before leaving and heading back to Dundee. We were thinking of going to the Prince Imperial's memorial site,
but soon realized that it was too much out of the way. We also got a bit mixed up, going the wrong way and slowed down going through Nquthu, a bustling town with a totally chaotic main street. We got back to Dundee at about 17h30. Marianne had a quick look at the Victoria Hotel and then we drove to the Campsite. Got a bit of a shock as it had noticed saying closed on Saturdays, but it proved to be for only the chalets that could not be checked into on the Seventh Day Adventist sabbath. We found a lovely campsite overlooking a large lake. About 5 sites were occupied, 2 with permanent caravans. We decided to have supper "at home" although there was a restaurant on the far side. It was getting very cold but we caught up on Pindat and had lovely hot showers. Just as we were getting into bed a big rottweiler and poodle arrived, said hello to me and started an unbelievable battle through the fence with the next door dogs. It went on for about ten minutes and just as we were thinking it was going to be impossible to sleep, stopped. There was hardly a dog sound for the rest of the night.

Geschreven door Leartravels