Durban Holidays Durban Beach Safari Holidays Drakensberg South Africa

Zulu Battlefields + Drakensberg Mountains
DPP7D

7 NIGHTS
FROM $1,956
International flights quoted separately
Explore the Zulu Battlefields with your own expert private driver/guide, allowing you to decide the pace of your tour and which additional battlefields you would like to visit. You can walk the Fugitives Drift trail, before contuinuing to key Boer War sites near Ladysmith, including the graves atop Spionkop. Complete your holiday relaxing in the Drakensberg Mountains.
HIGHLIGHTS
Zulu Battlefield Rorkes Drift Isandlwana South Africa Battlefield Spioenkop Boer War Battlefield South Africa
• Durban • North Coast • Zululand • Isandlwana
• Rorkes Drift • Ladysmith • Spioenkop • Drakensberg
• Walking • Bird Watching
Day 1
You will be met at Durban Airport and transferred 30-minutes to your hotel on the North Coast of KwaZulu Natal, renowned for its wonderful beaches and reliably warm holiday weather all year round.
  
Check in, settle in and relax on the shores of the warm Indian Ocean.
Day 2
This morning your host will share with you the beauty of rural Zululand as you drive to the remote battlefields at Isandlwana, a scenic 4-hour drive.
  
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 3
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 4
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
Days 5 To 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.