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.

In isiZulu, the word khula means to grow, and that was the vision when David and Nicky Rattray set out to found the David Rattray Foundation, now known as KHULA Education. At Fugitives’ Lodge the cost of your stay incudes a charitable contribution split between KHULA and Fugitives’ Drift Game Reserve. This helps ensure the development of schools as well as the sustainability of the surrounding environment and wildlife.

In the local communities of Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana, 60% of the families live below the poverty line, so acknowledging this, in 2007 they decided to do their part. Aside from employing local staff at Fugitives’ Drift, they set up the foundation in the hope of contributing, not only to provide a good academic education for disadvantaged children but also life skills and job readiness – a programme helping final year students apply for tertiary study and prepping them for life after school.

In the foundation’s embryonic stages, the project supported local infrastructure through repairing school buildings as well as constructing classrooms and libraries. Upon witnessing the work first-hand, guests who visited the lodge and their family friends, began to contribute to the cause which allowed them to finish the building work and focus on the education itself.

Today, KHULA supports 21 schools, 6,000 children and 200 teachers. The results speak for themselves. Despite having limited to no exposure to English when they started pre-school, 80% of KHULA’s preschoolers were fluent by the end of their two years. After they graduate, the students consistently rank in the top 20% of the grade when they graduate from primary school. These statistics alone demonstrate how much the foundation has influenced the lives of the school youth in the KwaZulu-Natal province.