The Anglo-Zulu War

The Zulu war of 1879 has become famous throughout British military history for the great battles at Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. We are please to offer you the opportunity to visit these sites and be presented the story by the finest guides in South Africa who will give you a thought-provoking and emotionally charged tour. You will need a minimum of 1 night in the area in order to visit both battlefields or if you prefer you could stay a bit longer and sample the atmosphere in the heart of Zululand or take part in addition tours and activities.

Battle of Isandlwana

On the 22nd January 1879, the Zulu Army attacked part of the British Army that was camped under the mountain at Isandlwana. The British had crossed the Buffalo River from Natal into Zululand to find the Zulu Impi and they had split their forces. More than 25,000 Zulus attacked less than 1,400 British soldiers with just a few dozen red coats surviving. The dead British soldiers were buried where they fell. Piles of white stones are their graves and each pile represents 6-8 men with the exception of 2 large piles which represent around 40 men.

Rorkes Drift

Later in the day, a small force of Zulus who had not seen any action and were desperate to prove themselves in battle, crossed the Buffalo River into Natal to attack Rorkes Drift. This was against the orders of the Zulu commanders and in a battle lasting several hours, the 4,000 Zulus were fought off by less than 140 British soldiers in a battle that saw no less than 11 Victoria Crosses awarded.

It’s very hard to sum up what happened on that January day in 1879 in just a few sentences. The Anglo-Zulu war was fought between the finest warriors Africa has ever produced and the soldiers of the largest Empire the world has ever known. There is a great story to be told and it is done so every day by the superb guides who live in KwaZulu Natal.

This tour can be easily included as part of a trip to South Africa to suit your schedule.

"The fighting was so fierce that only a very small handful of white men got away from us over the Buffalo River. We spared no lives and did not ask for mercy ourselves. We killed every white man left in the camp and the horses and cattle too. After killed them we used to split them up the stomach so their bodies would not swell.

We took the white men's rifles and tents, after cutting them up into convenient lengths....We left the wagons...Among our people who had been killed was out leader (Mkhosana - Inkosi of the Buyela and induna of the uMcijo), whose face we covered with a shield until the relations of the dead came and took the bodies away after the battle and also took the wounded home. The dead of the white people we left where they had fallen and some time afterwards they were buried.

...I myself only killed one man. Dum Dum went his revolver as he was firing from right to left, and I came along side him and stuck my assegai under his right arm, pushing it through his body until it came out between his ribs on the left side. As soon as he fell I pulled the assegai out and slit his stomach so that I knew he would not shoot any more of my people."

Kumbeka Qwabe, uMcijo Regiment

Interviewed in 1929

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