Durban Holidays Durban Beach Safari Holidays Drakensberg South Africa

Safari + Zulu Battlefields + Spioenkop Boer Battlefield
DPS7D

7 NIGHTS
FROM $2,107
International flights quoted separately
This holiday starts with a safari and continues with a private tour to the Zulu Battlefields at Isandlwana & Rorkes Drift with your own expert driver/guide. Visit Spioenkop battlefield before completing your holiday relaxing in the Drakensberg Mountains - a World Heritage site because of its Bushman paintings and wonderful for walking.  Less 10% for 4+ pax.
HIGHLIGHTS
South Africa Battlefields Tours Rorkes Drift Zululand Zulu Battlefields Tour South Africa Safari
• Durban • North Coast • Hluhluwe • Game Drives
• Rhino • Zululand • Isandlwana • Rorkes Drift
• Spioenkop • Drakensberg
Day 1
You will be met at Richards Bay Airport and transferred 1.5-hours to your game lodge near Hluhluwe in Zululand, renowned for its outstanding wildlife.
  
Enjoy an open top game drive after checking into your lodge, where game viewing opportunities should present themselves almost immediately. Hopefully you will see several species of antelope, zebra, wildebeest and maybe even giraffe - as well as several of the Big Five - before dining under the stars in the atmosphere that only the African bushveld can provide!
Days 2 To 3
Today is devoted to game viewing in Hluhluwe National Park. Note: game drives are optional extras, if not included in your lodge package (see hotel details below).
 
Rise at dawn to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day, and enjoy a thrilling open-top game viewing safari into the famous Hluhluwe National Park, which saved the rhino from extinction. One of South Africa’s most beautiful game parks, Hluhluwe is home to all the Big 5 - lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino - as well as the subcontinent’s largest population of endangered rhino. Hope to see many interesting species before returning to your lodge.
   
The rest of the day is free to relax by the lodge swimming pool or enjoy bird watching, before setting out again in the late afternoon for another game drive. Hope to see giraffe, hippo, kudu, crocodiles, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons and many other interesting animals. With over 300 different bird species, outstanding bird watching is also guaranteed!
  
After a beautiful African sunset, enjoy the balmy evening and pristine stars of the Milky Way as you have never seen them before – as well as the spectacular Southern Cross.
  
Children < 6 are not allowed on open top game drives
Day 4
Today your guide will collect you from your Hluhluwe game lodge, for your 3-hour transfer to the remote battlefields at Isandlwana in rural Zululand.
 
Check in to your lodge and enjoy dinner, whilst absorbing some of the fascinating history of this great conflict between Britain and the proud Zulu Kingdom.
 
Day 5
This morning we visit the poignant battlefield at Isandlwana, where in 1879 the mighty British army suffered the greatest defeat in its history following its controversial invasion of Zululand. See for yourself the events portrayed so passionately in the film Zulu Dawn, as the regiment was wiped out almost to a man by 25,000 Zulu warriors.
 
We continue to Fugitives Drift where a handful of survivors fought valiantly to save the Queen's colours and Rorkes Drift where the following morning a small contingent of 100 British soldiers (many of them sick) held off over 4,000 Zulu warriors earning no fewer than 11 Victoria Crosses – unforgettably brought to life by Michael Caine in the film Zulu.
 
Recommended Reading:
Brave Men’s Blood – Ian Knight
Day 6
Today we travel 3-hours to the spectacular uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains, recognised as a World Heritage site for its vast collection of San Bushmen rock art paintings.
   
Along the way, there is time for either a visit to the battlefield at Blood River - where the Boers won a decisive victory over the Zulus - or visits to some Boer War sites as we travel through Dundee and Ladysmith, which was beseiged during the Boer War of 1899 and has a small museum. This war followed shortly after the conquest of Zululand, as the British Empire turned its attentions to the lucrative Transvaal goldfields. Time permitting, we also making a detour to Spioenkop where the most futile and bloodiest of four battles took place in efforts to relieve Ladysmith.
  
Known locally as the Barrier of Spears the dramatic Drakensberg Mountains form the backbone of Southern Africa, running all the way down from the Great Rift Valley. If staying in the Central Drakensberg, we make a short stop at Didima Bushman rock art interpretative centre, before checking into your mountain resort in this area of unspoilt natural beauty.
  
Recommended Reading:
Boer War – Thomas Pakenham
Day 7
At leisure to relax in the Drakensberg Mountains and enjoy the facilities of your resort, with superlative scenery and fresh mountain air making it ideal for walking holidays at any level of fitness. Your hotel will organise guided walks each day – typically one short walk and one long walk, or a walk to a San Bushmen painting.
  
The mountains also offer an outstanding location for bird watching – particularly raptors, but also sunbirds, waxbills and the numerous other species found in the grasslands, riverine scrub and natural forests.
  
Your hotel has a swimming pool and offers many activities in or near the resort including golf, horse riding in the mountains, fly fishing for trout, tennis, lawn bowls, badminton, mountain biking, table tennis, darts and pool.
Day 8
Transfer 3-hours through the beautiful Natal Midlands to Durban Airport for your flight home.