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| Fugitives Drift Lodge Offering The Supreme Zulu Battlefield Encounter |
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| Written by Rob Atherton |
| Monday, 14 November 2011 09:36 |
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Fugitives Drift was established by David Rattray along with his wife Nicky and built an excellent lodge for travellers and tourists to indulge in this fantastic story. Sadly, in January 2007, David was murdered by an intruder but Fugitives Drift is a fantastic legacy to something he founded with his wife Nicky and it still continues today. Rob Caskie has taken over as the lead guide. Like David, Rob speaks fluent Zulu, understands the history inside out and is perhaps the best orator I've ever heard. The 2 battles I was interested by were the battle at Isandlwana where the Zulu army wiped out around 1,300 British troops on 22nd January 1879. Later on that day, a lesser force of Zulus who had missed out on the action at Isandlwana, sought their opportunity and so against orders, they assaulted Rorke's Drift. This defensive action went down in the history of the British Army as one of its most remarkable battles which saw eleven Victoria Crosses awarded. Less than 140 British troops battled with approximately 4,000 Zulus in a battle that raged all night. My stay at Fugitives Drift started with an afternoon trip to the Rorke's Drift site. It's a few miles from the Lodge and we started going round the museum which had been hospital building at the time of the battle. As with most battleground museums, there were numerous artefacts from the battle (rifles, bullets, buckles, spears etc) yet the most eye-catching item I saw was a model of the battleground. It presented the later phases of the fight when the hospital had been cleared out and the soldiers were defending the store behind their stacks of mealie bags. The model showed a few red coated troopers surrounded on every side by Zulus several deep and this was the first occasion I'd honestly had the opportunity to visualise the battle properly. All the films and images I've witnessed in the past were generally close ups with a few people however this model provided an overall impression which was quite honestly, shocking. To assist travellers and tourists imagine the layout, there are lines of stones marking where the defensive lines were placed. Rob started the tale detailing what Rorke's Drift was and the reasons why it had been assaulted. He made you realise there was clearly so much more to the battle than only a struggle between black and white, British redcoat versus Zulu warrior. Overall, the excursion was about three hours and everyone only sat listening to this excellent story teller recounting the incidents of 22nd January 1879. Back at the lodge, I freshened up in my stunning room. It truly was a pity I couldn't spend more time there because it was so comfy but it was time for refreshments just before supper so I made my way to the dining area. This room is much like a museum with pictures, flags, notes, weapons and a great deal more covering the walls. The dinner itself was very good. Everyone staying at the Lodge sat around the same table. It was a very pleasant evening but an early start the next day meant it wouldn't be a late night. My early alarm call was a nice hot pot of tea being delivered to my room (its nice to find some British traditions still live on). We had a nice hot breakfast just before heading off for the morning tour of Isandlwana. This battlefield is across the Buffalo river and the guide was a Zulu named Joseph. This is a completely different battleground to Rorke's Drift. The battle occurred on a vast plain in the shadow of a mountain so the orientation took much longer as we first visited the museum before being transferred to the hill from where the Zulu commanders had stood 129 years earlier. Our group moved on to the battlefield itself and parked up. The talk was going to be a couple of hours and so we got deck chairs that we took up the mountain to a vantage point that presented us a great view of the battleground. However, the altitude was about a mile above sea level and so it wasn't the easiest climb I'd ever tried. Joseph, like Rob gave us a compelling lecture and really helped us picture the scene. He also said that though he was a Zulu, he wasn't there to offer 'their side of the story', he wanted to provide us with the facts of what happened, occasionally in really graphic detail. At the right times, he would echo the Zulu cries which were made way back in 1879 and as his voice echoed all around us, it helped bring a lot more realism to the setting. The story was captivating. I listened to Joseph recited what was happening and my eyes wandered around the surroundings which was full of heaps of white stones. These heaps of stones mark the resting places of the British troopers who were buried where the died. Each pile of stones represented 6-8 men except for 2 sizeable heaps that were for as many as forty men. The hard African earth meant it had been tough to dig anything but shallow graves for the soldiers and heap stones on them. Just after the talk was over, we had time to walk round several of the graves and memorials at Isandlwana before heading back again for lunch. This was an amazing destination and I most certainly could have done with having an extra day as there was a Zulu village to visit in addition to the walk down to the Buffalo river where Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill lost their lives saving the Queen's Colour of their regiment and years later became the very first men to be posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. There was a time that when a white man in car was seen in this region, it generally meant they were lost. Today, there is an industry based on the work David and Nicky Rattray started which means there's a huge desire for those battles between the army of the biggest Empire the planet has ever seen and the best warriors Africa has ever produced. About the Author: The Anglo Zulu War of 1879 lasted just 6 months but had a major effect on the Zulu Kingdom and the Disraeli government.. This article, Fugitives Drift Lodge Offering The Supreme Zulu Battlefield Encounter is released under a creative commons attribution license. Kindly provided by MoneyHunter.org You are welcome to use this article on your own website, if you include the link just before this text. |
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