South Africa: Battlefields & on to Greytown.

Saturday 11th July: Battlefields and on to Greytown.

 We wanted to go and visit Rorke’s Drift, a mission station and hospital, the scene of the great battle against the Zulus on the 22nd January 1879. The battle lasted for 12 hours, from 4pm to 4am & a small British regiment of 139 men successfully defended the fortified encampment against the full force of the Zulu regiments.

From Dust and Diesel 2 - The return to the South

From Dust and Diesel 2 - The return to the South

From Dust and Diesel 2 - The return to the South

From Dust and Diesel 2 - The return to the South

Seventeen British soldiers lost their lives in that battle but earlier in the day, another big battle took place at nearby Isandlwana. There, the poorly prepared British were left exposed to 20,000 Zulus. They were annihilated, suffering losses of over 1,300 men while the Zulus lost about 1,500. Only a handful of British soldiers escaped. I had never understood the history of the battle but visiting both sites and reading in detail about it, made everything completely clear in our minds. We’ll all be renting the movie Zulu, starring Michael Caine, when we get home.

When we left both of the battlefields, we needed to head south to Greytown, some 150 kms away. By taking the gravel roads, we managed to head south in almost a straight line though we had to pass over quite a few mountain passes as well as endure some poor stretches of road too. We arrived in Greyton and considered going on to Mooi River, near the Drakesnberg Mountains. It was getting late so we opted instead to stay at Lady Leuchars guest house in Greytown, now managed by Adele who looked after us brilliantly. As we found out, Greytown is a small town so when it comes to dinner, there’s 2 options, Lady Leuchars & Wimpy. We chose the first and had a very nice meal. We’ll travel to Mooi River first thing after breakfast tomorrow. Snow is forecast for that area so it looks like the visit to the mountainous kingdom Lesotho will have to be shelved as it gets unbearably cold there, with frost & snow.