5 Day KwaZulu Natal Battlefield Tour

After breakfast guests will be collected by their guide from Durban and taken to the north-western KwaZulu Natal famous for its battlefields and their overnight destination in Dundee. Battle related sites will be visited on the route to Dundee (time dependant)

Overnight: Pennyfarthing Guest House (3 star)

Breakfast at the lodge

Guests will visit Blood River, the Ncome and Talana Museum during the day. Blood River Monument is a tribute to the battle of Blood River in 1838. The granite Jaw-bone Monument and bronze wagon laager was built on the original site of the 1838 wagon laager. It consists of 64 replica Voortrekker wagons cast in bronze situated on the site of the famous battle between the Afrikaners and the Zulu. The Ncome Museum is built in the shape of a Zulu war horn formation. The museum offers a re-interpretation of the 1838 battle and the Zulu culture in general. The last stop of the day will be at the Talana Battlefield Museum, named after the hill at the base of which the museum is situated meaning “the shelf where precious items are stored”. The battlefield of Talana marks the first serious clash of modern warfare supported by long-range artillery. The museum was opened in 1979 to commemorate the Anglo Zulu war but it also covers subjects such as agriculture, mining, industry and domestic life in this part of KwaZulu Natal. It is a great place to explore.

Guests will be met after breakfast and the day will be spent visiting the sites of two of South Africa's most famous Battlefields; Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift. On January 22 1879, it was the site where approximately 22 000 Zulu warriors defeated a contingent of approximately 1350 British and Native troops. The force was largely wiped out by the Zulus under Cetshwayo and the battle remains the single greatest defeat for the British Army at the hands of a native army. Rorkes Drift is the site where 139 British solders successfully defended their garrison against an intense assault by four to five thousand Zulu warriors. The successful defence of the outpost is held as one of history's finest defences.

From Dundee, guests will make their way to Ladysmith where a stop will be made at the Siege Museum. The museum is considered to be the best Anglo Boer War Museum in the country and had its humble beginning as a vegetable market place in 1884. Today it houses one of the greatest collections of artefacts from the Siege of Ladysmith & the Anglo Boer War of 1899 - 1902. From Ladysmith head to the Spionkop Battlefield, the scene of the most futile and certainly the bloodiest of the four battles fought to relieve the besieged town of Ladysmith from the surrounding Boer forces, from here continue onto the Rangeworthy Cemetery that holds the graves of those killed in the battles of Spioenkop and Bastion Hill. In the late afternoon continue onto the Drakensberg Mountains, named by the early Dutch Settlers for their resemblance to the ridges of a Dragon's Back. The steep ridges of the mountains were formed by the headwater erosion of rivers which separate South Africa's Highveld Plateau from the coastal lowlands.

Overnight: Montusi Mountain Lodge (4 star)

Day 5: Departure

Breakfast at the hotel

Spend the morning at leisure in inspiring mountain scenery.
 

After lunch, transfer to Durban either to the airport or alternatively to any hotel of choice in Durban. Transfer time about 3 ½ hours.