The view from Isandlwana towards the Nqutu plateau. At about 11.30am on the 22^nd January 1879, 20,000 Zulus "in perfect skirmishing order" came over the horizon and advanced on the camp in the classic horns of the buffalo formation. The left horn went round the back of the conical hill on the right of the picture and engaged Durnford. The loins came straight towards the camera, and the right horn swept behind the mountain, cutting of the road to Rorke's Drift. The horns were at least five miles apart - the British never realised until it was too late that this formation could be deployed on such a large scale.

Having met the right horn head on, Durnford fought the Zulus in the open, retreating until making a stand in the donga in the middle of the picture. This meant the British line was extended, until Durnford, realising that the acres of open land to right put him in danger of being outflanked by left horn of the fast running Zulus, fought a tactical withdrawal towards the saddle. The battle turned in this moment - Durnford's men were mounted, the troops to his left were not and were over run as the advancing impi charged home.

The white cairns on the saddle clearly illustrate where brave men died and lay for months before finally being buried. Durnford died, surrounded by his loyal men, in the middle of the picture, having given the final order to "Fix bayonets and die like British soldiers do!" A continuous stream of men were pouring out behind the mountain down the Fugitives' Trail to escape the encircling Zulus. The stony hill in the background is Black's koppie.

Isandlwana from the saddle. Just below the cliffs, at the precise moment the eclipse of the sun took place, Younghusband was permitted time to shake hands with his men, before charging down the slope to their deaths. A lone rifleman was holed up in a cave on the heights for some time after, before being shot. He was the last to die and at that moment, according to a Zulu witness, the shadow of the mountain touched the plain. The battle was over.

For those lucky enough to escape from the battlefield itself, the true nightmare was just beginning. With Rorke's Drift, to the right, cut off by the right horn of the Zulu army, the only option was to head across country to the Buffalo River and the safety of Natal. Ahead lay 8 miles of rocky land, dotted with marshes invisible to the naked eye, which enabled the Zulus to even keep up with those on horseback. Those that did arrive at the river were faced with an additional challenge……the Buffalo was in full spate.

Fugitives Drift has barely changed since that hot January afternoon in 1879 when Private Wassall won his VC in one of the pools below by saving Private Westwood.

This picture was taken when the river was in full spate, as it was that fateful day. Melvill and Coghill climbed this ravine on the Natal bank only to meet their end when every obstacle had seemingly been overcome. Their graves are less than 100 yards behind the camera.

Sitting on this big rock, nearly 120 years later, the roar of the water hundreds of feet below, it is easy to imagine the noise, the panic and the overall confusion of the spectacle that would have been taking place beneath you.

From a ridge up above, Higginson witnessed their end before riding on to Helpmaakar to file his report. News of the defeat spread like wildfire throughout Natal.