Zulu Battlefields, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

The Zulu Battlefields is the collective name for an area of rolling cattle country in rural KwaZulu Natal where many of the Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer battles were fought - an enduring story of courage and self-sacrifice, bloodshed and tragedy. The Battlefields refers to the battles between the Boers (Afrikaaners) and the Zulus in the early 19th century; between the English and the Zulus in the late 19th century; and between the English and the Boers at the turn of the century.

To give you a unique perspective on this area’s passionate history, we recommend a two night stay (preferably three nights) with a fascinating guided tour to sites such as Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. You’ll get very little from visiting the sites independently as it is in the telling of the story that the battles come alive and the battlefield guides are known as consummate story-tellers! Their oratory brings the history and human drama of the events alive with such intensity that we defy you not to be moved. Older children can be equally captivated.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Zulus were a small, rather insignificant clan. Shaka, the illegitimate son of a Zulu chief, was to change the status quo. Shaka. He invented the short stabbing spear, the assegai, which allowed soldiers to engage in close hand-to-hand contact. He also developed the ‘Horns of the bull’ fighting strategy in which the enemy was attacked, surrounded and destroyed in a pincer movement. His superior military machine continued even after his assassination and posed a threat to both the Boers settlers and later the British in their attempts to settle and colonise KwaZulu Natal. The British decided to instigate a war to destroy the Zulu kingdom and later they tried similar approach to the Boer Republics at the end of the 19th century…