Talana Battlefield

The Boers invaded Natal in 1899 and on the 20th October they climbed the three hills surrounding Dundee and this farm at Talana. At 5am they started shelling the British Forces camped below and the Battle of Talana commenced. By 13.00 the Boers had been forced to withdraw as the British advanced and took control of the hill. The Boers were able to continue shelling the British from a distance over the next two days using “Long Tom” on Mapati Mountain, eventually forcing them to retreat to Ladysmith where the were besieged for the next 99 days.

The museum at the Talana Battlefield was more interesting than we had anticipated. It gave information not only about the Battle of Talana but also about the early days of European settlers, the Voortrekkers, the Zulu wars, the Boer wars,  the First World War and the life and struggles of Mahatma Ghandi. It also explained the rise of Dundee as a coal mining centre and of nearby Glencoe as a transport hub. - there was a railway siding there…


We spent so long at the museum that we missed both our lunch and our afternoon coffee. The centre of Dundee failed to produce an acceptable café so we found ourselves in our first Wimpy Burger Bar in 30 years - it was the first parking place we found where we could watch over our car in an attached car park whilst being pleasantly surprised by excellent salads, wraps and coffees. On our return to Battlefields Country Lodge we discovered that Bob’s missing luggage hadn’t arrived but rather had been airfreighted to Durban airport in a flagrant show of defiance in the face of Bob’s wishes for them not to do this. This story to be continued…