Rorke’s Drift

Backblip from a long wait for plane at Joburg airport!


After a leisurely start we drove to Dundee and had coffee with Shona while Taurai took the trailer to Battlefields country lodge and sports resort where we were to spend the night, as the track to Rorke’s drift would be too rough for the trailer. He then came back with the bus to take us to Rorke’s Drift to see Zulu /Brit battle site and museum. Unfortunately the museum was too dark to read the information but we got a us pamphlet which explained the background to the battle and then we went on a walk round the site. Basically the Zulus had been forced further and further back off their land by the Boers and Brits, till their king made an agreement to stay in the lands north of a certain area, and below that the Brits governed. However one prince did not adhere to this and attacked and wiped out the Brits at Islwanda the day before. There were 3000 Zulus and 137 Brits in the 1879 battle at Rorke’s drift, which was a tiny outpost with a hospital. We thought the Zulu’s hadn’t got guns but apparently they had some. As the Islwanda defeat had such a bad press in Britain, a huge number - 11 - VCs were awarded. There was a recent memorial to the Zulus which was very beautiful- metal shields with a leopard on top. It was very interesting to visit and I might watch the old Micheal Caine film on the flight home - I noticed it was in the film choice on the way out. Our guide says it is considered 98% authentic.

Battlefields lodge is a strange place. It is a kind of country club which does weddings and conferences but there was no sign of much going on when we arrived. We stayed in mock Silos. Unfortunately the trailer had leaked when there was a severe downpour so by bag and most of my stuff got soaked. It all got carted of to the dryer in the laundry and came back neatly folded. We Walked to a paddock to see ostriches, Red hartebeest, zebra and springboks in big field. Around one of the silos we watched Weavers making their nests.

Being a veggie isn’t much fun in South Africa. The only food to be had in the place was a Buffet which turned out to be the same price for veggies as meat eaters who got huge beef steaks. Veggies get the same minus the meat - so we could have had potato salad and lettuce and tomatoes for £10 so needless to say we and the other veggies declined any supper and were sustained with a nice bottle of red wine.