South Africa - The Battlefield Route

South Africa is a land that has seen much warfare in its history. The Cape Colony was originally Dutch, but the British coveted it because of its strategic location, and early in the 19th century they took it. The legendary Zulu king, Shaka, was a Napoleonic leader who ruthlessly subdued neighbouring tribes. First the Boers, and then the British clashed with the Zulus. Then, over the years exterior the turn of the 20th century, the British and the Boers fought in what was for many years called the Boer War, but is now referred to as the South African War.

The Battlefield Route - Blood and Glory

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In KwaZulu-Natal Province, visitors with a love of history can ensue the Battlefield Route, a tour that takes them to the places where soldiers and warriors shed their blood and earned glory in dramatic clashes which shaped the future of South Africa. You can visit the sites on your own and see the monuments, but since exiguous evidence of the fierce battles remains, the best way to see them is by guided tour. The Battlefield Route covers eleven towns and 50 battle sites, and tour operators can elucidate just what happened at each location.

How Blood River Got its Name

Boers fleeing what they carefully intolerable British rule in the Cape Colony of South Africa migrated to Zulu territory. On December 16, 1838, at a site near what is now called the Blood River, an army of some thousand Zulu warriors attacked a band of 470 Boers who defended themselves from behind their circled wagons. The Zulus were armed with spears, and the Boers with rifles. The Zulus lost more than 3,000 men, while the Boers did not have a singular fatality. The battle site is now marked by a circle of 64 Boer wagons.

Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift

In January of 1879, a British army of over a thousand soldiery invaded Zululand. A series of errors led to this force being unprepared for an strike by breathtaking numbers of Zulus at a place called Isandlwana. Only a few British soldiers escaped the massacre. Meanwhile, some thousand Zulus attacked the British provide post at Rorke's Drift, which was defended by only 110 soldiers. In one of the most ferocious battles ever fought in South Africa, the British withstood the Zulu attack. Eleven of the defenders received the Victoria Cross. Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift are both on the Battlefields Route, and at Rorke's Drift the previous post has been converted into a museum.

The Boer War

The British came into deadly conflict with the Boers when gold was discovered on land to which both laid claim. The Boer War, one of the most bungled soldiery episodes in British history in South Africa, was a dragged-out tragedy with atrocities on both sides. In the town of Ladysmith, visitors can see the Siege Museum. This absorbing institution reconstructs scenes from the 118-day Siege of Ladysmith. There are displays of weapons and uniforms. The Talana Museum near Dundee commemorates the October 20, 1899, Battle of Talana Hill. There are great displays about the Boer War, the Zulu Wars, and the lifestyles of the Zulus and the early white settlers.

South Africa - The Battlefield Route

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