The Battlefields and Drakensberg Holidays

People from all over the world come to Fugitives’ Drift to reimagine the Anglo-Zulu War. David and Nicky Rattray built the lodge in 1989 with a vision to bring the story back to life. The property overlooks the battlefields of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, two locations that played a pivotal part in both South African and British military history. If you’ve seen the movie Zulu, you’ll be familiar with the spirit and drama of these encounters, but nothing illustrates these elements more beautifully than the art of story-telling with authentic insights from both the British and Zulu sides.

After David’s death, their son Douglas, followed in David’s footsteps. He inherited his father’s wonderful story-telling talents and recites the stories with an equal amount of passion and unique intelligence. The two other lecturers are Zulu men, Bryan Mcube who grew up on Rorke’s Drift, and Mphiwa Ntanzi, whose great grandfather fought in this very war – both Brian and Mphiwa offer authentic and insightful perspectives from the Zulu side.

The heroic events of 1879 play out in two stages. In the early morning, guests head to the Nqutu Escarpment, the high ground from which the Zulus attacked and where you’ll begin the rerun of the battle of Isandlwana. You’ll end in a natural amphitheatre facing the Isandlwana peak where you can relive some 20,000 Zulu warriors descending on the British troop of 1,800 and killing 1,300 of them, making it one of the greatest defeats in British colonial history.

In the afternoon, guests settle under a tree at Rorke’s Drift and listen with sheer anticipation to the sequel to Isandlwana. As dusk falls and the sun slips away, you’ll listen intently to the retelling of the final attacks on the remaining 139 British soldiers by 4,000 Zulu warriors, a battle that saw the award of eleven Victoria Crosses.

The Drakensberg mountain range is often described as one of the most beautiful places in South Africa. From Three Tree Hill Lodge, the easiest and one of the prettiest parts of the range to explore is Champagne Valley, cradled by Champagne Castle, South Africa’s third tallest peak. This mountain was given its name by two adventurers hoping to celebrate their summit with a bottle of bubbly only for one of them to drop it on the way up. Bad luck though didn’t stop them from enjoying the striking vistas that today remain unblemished and picture-perfect.​

You can decode the many trails with the help of a map. Armed with a picnic lunch and fired up with a school-kid sense of adventure, set off on varied paths that you can hike, bike or just amble along. They range from a 12-kilometre loop with rewarding views of Cathkin and Sterkhorn’s sky-scraping peaks to a more leisurely 2.5-kilometre hike to Sterkspruit Falls where you could, if you want to, brave a brisk dip in its mountain stream. Meanwhile, adrenaline junkies can get their kicks on helicopter flights over literal breath-stealing scenery, or by white-water rafting down parts of the historic Tugela River rarely encountered by other people.

The scope and pastoral beauty on offer have allowed for niche activities to flourish such as falconry, a great one for families. During term time, Champagne Valley transforms into a stunning backdrop for mountaintop performances by the Drakensberg Boys Choir whose Ed Sheeran and Queen renditions are internationally recognised and totally worth staying out for on a school night.

One of the most moving stories to be told about the battles between the Boer and British troops took place on the doorstep of Three Tree Hill Lodge. Specialising in the history of the South African War, (also known as the second Anglo-Boer War), with the Battle of Spioenkop being the focal point. The Battle of Spioenkop tour tells of the bloodiest single day in the entire South African War.

Astonishingly, Louis Botha, a young Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi all played a role in this battle.

Out in the field near the town of Ladysmith expert guides Simon Blackburn and Ron Gold bring this tragic story to life. The lodge is full of historical memorabilia but not everyone is interested in visiting the battle site and so Ron will go to the lodge to do a pre-talk about the events leading up to the battle.

Kop means head in Dutch. Guests walk around the plateau of the kop where, with no knowledge of the local geology, the British soldiers found themselves digging incredibly shallow trenches. Even worse, when the mist lifted, the troops saw that they hadn’t climbed to the highest kop at all and were horribly exposed. A war correspondent, Winston Churchill, served as messenger between the soldiers on the kop and the generals below. The story is told in such an emotive way that you can almost feel the bullets and shells coming at you.