4x4 Club Midlands Tour to the Battlefields 7 – 10 August 2015 (by Ruth Varrie)
On the long weekend of August, 7 members and their families set up camp at the lovely little Kwa Rie caravan park in Dundee. The park is privately owned and run and the pleasant surroundings of a little dam, well-kept gardens, grassed sites and excellent ablutions boded well for a very enjoyable weekend. The men in our group lit a lovely big braai fire and while it was smouldering contentedly our Tour Guide for the weekend, Mr Anthony Coleman joined us at the camp and spent a very interesting 45 minutes Getting to know a bit about us and giving us some of the history around the battlefields we would be visiting the next day.
On Saturday we left in convoy at 08h00 and travelled to Hlobane, about 80 km from Dundee. Anthony grew up in this area and knows it like the back of his hand which made the trip all the more interesting. He pointed out trains that transport coal which are arguably the longest in the world, sometimes up to almost a kilometre long!
Along the way we stopped on the side of the road to have a look at a big map of the area that Anthony had brought with him as a visual guide of the battle, and to orient us about the events that took place on 28th March 1879. Our drive to the bottom of the hill took past the redundant coal mine which was the biggest in the world in its day. Anthony also pointed out a little house where he spent some of his childhood next to the mine, still occupied and sadly painted a bright toffee pink, unbefitting of the historical age of the place!
We commenced the ascent of the hill, driving up to the flat top of Hlobane Hill. This required some engaging of low 4 gears and negotiating of soft sand and rocks. The Kiepersol (Cabbage) trees that grow on this mountain were plentiful and Anthony told us of a little known fact – The trees are protected and were almost wiped out by the Voortrekkers who loved to use the soft wood as “brake pads” for their Wagons! There is one old Kiepersol tree there that has a little bench under its branches and Anthony recons it must be around a hundred or so years old as it is by far the largest he has seen. We stopped about half way up to view the graves of Campbell and Lloyd who were killed whilst observing the action, with Colonel Evelyn Wood.
After travelling about 15km along the top of the flat-top mountain, passing a stone wall built by the Zulus about 500 years ago, we reached the spot where the Battle of Hlobane took place. Our drive along the top followed the route of the retreating British and Colonials and then stopped at the Devils Pass, where the frantic men British soldiers, cornered and outnumbered by the Zulus, at about 1000:1 literally tumbled down the hill with their horses. The views over the cliffs into the valley below were breath-taking and one could feel for the Brits, who with no escape would rather commit suicide by jumping down the cliffs than face the slaughter that was inevitable by the Zulu Army.
On descent we stopped at the site where a group of Colonials had tried to escape, only to be faced with a barrier of cliffs. Here another contingent of British Soldiers, including a Colonel who was travelling with his cerebral palsied 14 year old son, were cornered by the Zulus and literally thrown off the cliffs to their death. We decided to stop for half an hour and have a picnic lunch. This made the local security very nervous and they quickly arrived to find out what we were doing and to warn us not to start any fires.
The next stop was at Kambula, where the British force held off a determined Zulu attack on 29th March. Anthony covered the battle and we visited the British cemetery before returning to Dundee camp for a nice social braai.
On Sunday we followed Anthony on a trip into the rural areas to the South and South East of Dundee, an area seldom visited . We stopped to view some rock art which includes the only known rock paintings that are done in blue! Then made our slow way along some fairly challenging 4x4 routes down to the Buffalo River where we had lunch under the trees before visiting Msinga Top for a view of the confluence of the Buffalo and Tugela Rivers. I must say at this point that the views and the aloes in that area are spectacular! Ronnie and Gary flippantly dismissed the roads we were driving on as “Grade 1” but later did admit that in some places they could have been “Grade 2”. To those of us who are much less experienced than the “Ballies” it was pretty scary and I rate those routes as a novices “Grade 4” at the very least! I know this will make some of you smile and think “sissies” but remember when you started….. We were all beginners once! Dave and Kotie had some fun trying to find a place where Kotie could buy her beer and finally found a trading store that had just what she was looking for in quarts just under the counter and at much less than one would pay in normal bottle stores.
After some interesting driving to avoid goats, cattle and “merry men” wending their way home after Sunday celebrations, we arrived back in camp in time to watch the rugby and do some celebrating of our own. After a lovely braai, Jacque fetched some marshmallows and wooden skewers and John Buyers taught us the proper way to toast them over the fire.
On Monday we woke up to overcast and cool weather to send us on our way back to Maritzburough after a wonderful weekend of making new friends some with some of the most well behaved children ever, gorgeous weather, interesting education and a spot of 4x4ing. All in all a most enjoyable time and I am glad I didn’t miss it!