Ian Knight tour of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift

Ian is about to arrange a specialist trip to Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift staying at Isandlwana Lodge for the whole tour, which will allow everyone to settle in, and save travelling times – hopefully that will give us some flexibility which we can work into the itinerary. At present, this stands as –

Fly out 6th November 2015 –
Day 1 (7th) – meet at Jo’burg, travel to Lodge, hopefully taking in something interesting along the way. Settle into Lodge – introductory talk on the verandah before dinner, discussing what we hope to achieve.

Day 2 (8th) – General iSandlwana day. Drive out to Ngwebeni, then view the battlefield from above the Lodge, then down to the Museum and camp area. After lunch, walk the firing line to Durnford’s donga.

Day 3 (9th) – Explore the line of advance of the left horn (walk where possible; please note that because we hope to explore less well-known aspects of the battlefields, we will do a lot of walking where we can – generally these will NOT be as physically challenging as, say, the Fugitives’ walk). Go to the iThusi high spot on the iNyoni ridge, climb the Conical Hill.

Day 4 (10th) -Walk the route of the rocket battery and explore the likely spots it came to grief.

Day 5 (11th) – Explore Chelmsford’s movements, visit the spot on Magogo hill where Milne looked back at the camp, Mangeni falls etc. (NB; This is a more relaxed day, allowing time to either for a mid-tour regroup, or for us to respond to any particular requests that might crop up).

Day 6 (12th) – walk the route of the right horn, starting at the mouth of the Ngwebeni valley, and across the plateau to finish at iSandlwana.

Day 7 (13th) – Drive out to Fort Bengough (on the lines of communication to Greytown), return to look at Helpmekaar in more detail than usual, then drive to Fugitives’ Drift. On the way back to the Lodge explore Sihayo’s territory in more detail – visiting the site of his homestead, and walking into the gorge to identify the area where the fighting took place on 12 January 1879.

Day 7 (14th) – Rorke’s Drift. The story of the battle, walk up Shiyane, then visit the site of Fort Northampton (1884) and the graves on the Zulu bank.

Day 8 (15th) – leave Lodge and return to Jo’burg – fly out that evening, arrive London early on the 16th.

This is obviously not a full tour of the war, a la Holts – we might attempt that again next year – but is intended as shorter option for those of you who want to look at th Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift in more detail than any other tour currently offers.

Obviously no one needs to commit until we have costings and a payment schedule, but please register your interest if you think you might want to come. You guys have priority – but we will be offering it more widely to fill the numbers later.

As per usual Paul will be your registered guide – Ian will be doing the history talks.If you are interested, just e mail me and I’ll pass it to Ian.

Adrian Greaves