The Drakensberg, Blood River and Return to Richards Bay

Prepared February 26 and 27, 2012, en route Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India

February 9, 2012, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa:  Giant's Castle and Cleopatra's

After breakfast at Three Tree Lodge, we set off for the Drakensberg Mountains.  The Drakensberg forms the border between Lesotho and South Africa.  It is also the geologic boundary between the flat table land of high veld and the low lands (low veld) of the Pietermaritzburg midlands as well as the coastal lowlands along the Indian Ocean.  From Kwazulu Natal, the Drakensberg appear as an almost vertical wall rising from the mist up to 10,000 feet above the rolling flat lands.

The Drakensberg Appear

Driving south and southeast,  we passed through both modern farmlands and Zulu homelands.  The contrast is stark.  Farms remind J of his family's farms in central Kansas, while the Zulu homelands are small holdings visibly immersed in obvious poverty.  As we turned southwest, the Drakensberg appeared out of the morning haze, looking like the brooding wall of an ageless fortress.  The elevation increased, and we entered the foothills and began our climb into the mountains to visit Giant's Castle.  Giant's Castle is a rock formation resembling the turrets of a very large fortress.  The rock formation is honey-combed with caves, and in some of those caves are wall paintings done by the Sand people.  (The Sand people occupied large areas of South Africa before the migrations of the Bantu, i.e., Zulus and other modern tribal groups from central Africa.)

The Giant's Castle

Our goal was to view the caves with Sand people cave paintings; however, after parking the car and hiking about two miles along a well-prepared trail, we had another mile to go to reach the cave and a desicion had to be made.  We either visited the Sand people's paintings or we went to a reserved lunch.  Guess which activity was voted most important!  So, intellectual enlightenment was cast aside, and we headed back to Rob's SUV for the trip to Cleopatra's and lunch.

As Close as We Got to The Giant's Castle

Cave with Sand People's Paintings is in Upper Left Center

Cleopatra's full name is Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse.  It is named for Cleopatra Mountain, an outcropping that roughly resembles Cleopatra in the Drakensberg Mountains, which overshadows the restaurant (or as the flyer says, "romantic gourmet getaway").  Cleopatra's is owned and operated by Richard and Mouse Poynton, who developed the property on the site of his family's fishing cabin.  Before we sat down to lunch, Chef Richard, a friend of our guide Rob, gave us a tour, and spoke about his baboon problem.  Chef Richard grows all his own organic herbs, fruits, and vegetables, also considered gourmet quality by the baboons.  He uses local meats and dairy products.  So, the meals are fresh and tasty.  The pumpkin soup and seafood curry which J and E had was superb!  Sorry, cave paintings you lose and without a trace of guilt!

A Black and White Ibis on the Pond at Cleopatra's

After our three-course lunch (appetizer, main course, and dessert with cappuccino) by the lake, we reluctantly waddled to the SUV to cross the rolling plains of Kwazulu Natal.  On the trip back, Rob wanted us to see some elan (Africa's largest antelope), so we did some game spotting near Kanberg Nature Reserve.  After some excellent spotting by Rob (what J saw--claiming to be elan--ended up being rocks), we saw a herd of elan with one male and three females.  Then, we drove back to the lodge.  Truthfully, neither J or E ate much dinner that evening.

All Right, Smart Guy  -- You Find the Elan

February 10, 2012, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa:  Blood River and Richards Bay

After packing and breakfast, the SUV was loaded, and it was off for a long day of driving to visit another battle ground and return to the Silver Whisper, in port at Richards Bay.  We headed northeast through Ladysmith.  Today, it is a small agricultural service center with few indications of its former role in the Boer War.  Continuing to the northeast about 30 miles, we came to Dundee.  This entire route is marked with sites of battles from the Boer/Zulu, British/Zulu, and British/Boer wars.  Our purpose was to visit one of the most important battle sites in the Boer/Zulu conflict -- Blood River.

In the 1830s, Boer settlers began to enter (from the west) the Zululand part of Kwazulu Natal, looking to establish their farms in areas that were outside of British rule.  In 1838, a large party of Boers entered from the  Free State and started negotiations with Dingaan, the Zulu Principal Chief, and half-brother of Shaka.  He had killed Shaka to become Principal Chief and was not pleased with Boer immigration in Zululand.  The Boers had gained a reputation as "wizards" because of victories, over the Mathabale at the Battle of Mmajuba and other engagements, where they lost very few men and killed many of their enemies.  Dingaan invited Piet Retief and a small party of his followers to his kraal near Ulundi to negotiate a land deal.  After the land deal was agreed upon, Dingaan invited Retief's party to a celebration the next day, when the Boers were all killed in most unpleasant ways.  Dingaan then attacked the existing Boer farms in Zululand, killing many additional Boers.

The Boer response to Dingaan's negotiating tactics was to organize a Commando raid under the leadership of Andries Pretorius to attack the Zulus.  The party consisted of 464 men and about 200 retainers.  The Commandos, in addition to their mounts, had specially-built ox wagons that not only carried supplies but could be formed into a laager (circle) and be bound together as a fort.  Dingaan's  estimated 15,000 man army attacked the Boer laager at the Ncome River on the night of  December 16, 1878, and the fighting continued until about noon the next day.  The Zulus are estimated to have lost 6,000 men (Dingaan's army was destroyed), and the Boers had not suffered a single fatality (3 men were slightly wounded).  Many of the Zulu warriors were trapped and killed trying to cross the Ncome River.  So many, in fact, that the river ran red with blood.  Hence, the name of the battle and the river became Blood River.  Blood River firmly established the Boers in Zululand, and there was little organized hostility between them and the Zulus after Pretorius' campaign of 1838-1839.

The battlefield site is a major Boer cultural symbol, and there is a small museum with artifacts from the battle and a narration of the battle.  The major attraction is the battlefield monument itself, which is a replica in bronze of the Boer laager as it stood on the night of 1838.  It is an imposing monument appearing alone on a vast open area of velt.

Blood River Museum and Boer Victory Monument

Boer Victory Monument

Bronze Laager at Site of Blood River Battle

Bronze Ox Wagons, Barrier and Cannon

After visiting the museum and the monument, we headed southeast toward Richards Bay.   We passed very near the site of the Battle of Isandlwana, where British forces suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Zulu in 1879 (we had visited the site in 2006).  Continuing southeast, we entered a mountainous area, the boundary between the lowland velt and the coastal lowland, where commercial forestry covers many thousands of acres.  Pulling off the road and into a firebreak, we stopped for tea and biscuits.  To the north and south of our onward route were the traditional homes of the Zulu kings.  Continuing down the western slope of the mountains, we reached the coastal plain near Nyoka and finally arrived at the port of Richards Bay.

Richards Bay is a major South African port shipping raw materials to Asia.  It is huge, with bulk cargo carriers (for coal, chromium ore, and who knows what else) tied up by the dozens.  Also, there are the container piers.  And, it seems it is uncommon for a cruise ship to make port here!  So, we succeeded in losing the Silver Whisper, and no thanks to the local port staff - "cruise ship; no cruise ship."  We spent an hour roaming the port looking for our ship.  Finally, a rather large stevedore-type person told Rob it might be at the yacht harbor.  "They put small ships out there sometimes."  Sure enough, that was where we found our floating home.  We were getting a little concerned.