The drive from Ballito to Ladysmith last Saturday took us about 4 hours and was really very enjoyable. The road north of Pietermaritzburg travels through a number of nature reserves and the scenery is spectacular - rolling hills with forests and lakes; very green, despite the severe drought this year. To the left of Mooi River is the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park which is a World Heritage Site and quite beautiful. The countryside starts to look more like Africa north of Escourt: wider, open plains with ant hills and acacia trees and the Drakensberg mountains in the distance. These lands were the battlefields of twelve years of sporadic warfare between white settlers and black tribesmen, and between British soldiers and Boer commandos, culminating in the 1899 Boer War.
Our hosts in Ladysmith are Suzette and Piet Grabe and they have lived in this historic, pretty house built in 1901 for seven years
. However they have lived in Ladysmith for many years and have many friends in the area. Via Facebook, Suzette had invited us to go to Piet’s surprise 65th birthday party and so we were a part of the conspiracy to get him to the venue without his realising what was going on! Having never met any of these people before, Mike and I were sent ahead to meet up with their friends Eugene and Lira and then to follow them to the hotel. About 50 of Piet’s Afrikaner friends were gathered and when Suzette and Piet appeared, we all shouted ‘SURPRISE’. Piet looked a little bemused to start with but went on to really enjoy himself. We found them all as friendly as ever and as always, they could speak English as well as Afrikaans, so we could communicate. Somehow we found our way home, unaccompanied, later that evening, managed to work out the terrifying alarm system and fell into bed completely exhausted!
Piet and Suzette left early the next morning to stay with their son in Johannesburg whilst we have occupied their home for the past 8 days
. We had a quiet day on Sunday by their small pool in their pretty little garden but on Monday we were up bright and early having had to open the doors for their maid at 7am! She has been three times during our stay here, washing our clothes and generally clearing up after us. We decided to go and have breakfast in town (full ‘English’ including endless coffee for less than £5/8 euro for two!) and then headed off to Winterton and the tourist trail into the northern Drakensberg mountains. We visited the Thokozise Centre with its wonderful arts and craft shops and also the Valley Bakery which makes the most delicious bread and cakes. There is a pretty café there too, but still full from our enormous breakfast, we decided, for once, to give lunch a miss.
On Wednesday we headed for the Spioenkop Dam Nature Reserve which is also a famous historic battlefield. The game was disappointing - zebra, wildebeest and some unidentified and rather pretty buck - but the scenery around the lake was awesome
. However, it was too hot and late in the morning and the bush tracks were absolutely dreadful, so we returned to the mountains and drove up to Champagne Valley which is right at the end of the trail. We had heard rumours of a fabulous restaurant up there at the foot of the dramatic Drakensberg mountains and after some searching, we found it. The Dragon Restaurant is set by a lake and it’s a beautiful, thatched Rondavel-style building, serving excellent food. As we sat in the shade under the thatch, huge dark clouds started to form around the mountain peaks and the thunder echoed around the valley. The lightening was spectacular and then the heavens opened. A torrent of rain came crashing down along with hailstones the size of small pebbles! It was all over by the time we had finished lunch and by the time we left, the temperature was up to 34 degrees again.
Fascinated by the history of this place, we went to the Siege Museum in the town
. We were very impressed by this little museum which has an extensive record of the 1900 siege of Ladysmith. The British held the town for 120 days whilst the Boers besieged them relentlessly. The big guns were impressive, especially the Boers ‘Long Tom’ which caused all sorts of damage. Mike was particularly pleased with the Naval gun (see pic) which the Royal Navy brought up all the way from Durban to defend Ladysmith. Another Armstrong weapon, Henrietta!
After this rather large dose of culture, we had heard about another gem - the Bingelela restaurant at Bergville - and so we set off in search of yet more food. As always, we loved the 60k drive there across this wonderful landscape of rolling farmland and distant mountains. It is so interesting to see how the ‘European’ farms are so obviously prosperous with huge acres of land growing a variety of crops but where farms have been reclaimed for the Zulu people, the land is broken up into tiny parcels of land where the Africans grow a small field of maize, keep a few cows and chickens and live in a huddle of rondavels and huts
. They are happy and self-contained but in the long term they are not feeding their people or exploiting their crops. This, and the dismal education system, seems to us to be South Africa’s current downfall.
Where was I? Oh yes, the Bingelela restaurant! Another cluster of beautiful, thatched buildings around a central swimming pool, serving excellent food. it was remarkably good and the setting was quite beautiful. It’s run by a bunch of young(ish) white guys which is unusual in this country and apart from us, most of their clientele were Africans. Perhaps they enjoy being waited on by the whites for a change!
Our final excursion was north-east to the heart of the battlefields - Rorke’s Drift. We remembered watching that amazing film ‘Zulu’ all those years ago and going to the very spot where it all happened was quite something
. It has been beautifully preserved - the house, redoubts, hospital, church and graves all clearly marked out and there is nice little museum, too. It is amazing to think that just a handful of British soldiers held out against the thousands of Zulus for nearly 12 hours and 11 VC’s were awarded for bravery during the battle.
To get there, it had been a long way across dirt roads and we were hot and thirsty. We were therefore vastly relieved to fall upon the Rorke’s Drift Hotel just outside the village. An amazing structure with 360 degree views from a balcony running right around it, it is owned by an Englishman from Sussex! He had been brought up in SA as a child, educated in England, been in the British army and then finally come back to his roots to buy a house in Ladysmith and start this amazing venture. I’m not sure that they usually serve lunch to passing tourists but he said we were welcome to join his house guests for lunch and we enjoyed a very good Bobotie and cold roast beef from the buffet!
We leave Ladysmith on Sunday and will take the 6/7 hour drive up to Morpeth Park on the Swaziland border in two stages, with an overnight stop at a mountain lodge. We have an exchange house on the banks of the Crocodile River which sounds interesting…
Thanks for all your comments - hope you are getting my replies!
The Bowens in the Drakensburg Battlefields
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Other Entries
-
1The wait was worth it!
Jan 0850 days priorGraaff-Reinet, South Africaphoto_camera20videocam 0comment 6 -
2Chilling out on the Wild Coast
Jan 1642 days priorEast London, South Africaphoto_camera14videocam 0comment 10 -
3KwaZulu-Natal and Margate-by-the-Sea
Jan 2731 days priorShelly Beach, South Africaphoto_camera7videocam 0comment 14 -
4Photos from Shelly Beach
Jan 2830 days priorShelly Beach, South Africaphoto_camera11videocam 0comment 2 -
5Beach Bums!
Feb 0423 days priorPort Shepstone, South Africaphoto_camera21videocam 0comment 14 -
6Techno-disasters in KwaZulu Natal
Feb 1017 days priorScottburgh, South Africaphoto_camera15videocam 0comment 12 -
7Bowens end severe North Coast drought!
Feb 198 days priorBallito, South Africaphoto_camera20videocam 0comment 12 -
8The Bowens in the Drakensburg Battlefields
Feb 27Ladysmith, South Africaphoto_camera23videocam 0comment 5 -
9Jungle Drums...
Mar 068 days laterMarloth Park, South Africaphoto_camera16videocam 0comment 4 -
10Rain stops Play in Lake Chrissiesmeer
Mar 1012 days laterErmelo, South Africaphoto_camera16videocam 0comment 3 -
11Gold diggers revealed a century later!
Mar 1618 days laterPretoria, South Africaphoto_camera16videocam 0comment 3 -
12Off-roading on the Equator
Mar 2123 days laterTimau, Kenyaphoto_camera11videocam 0comment 8 -
13To be welcomed home is very special!
Mar 2628 days laterNairobi, Kenyaphoto_camera19videocam 0comment 4 -
14I had a farm in Africa...
Mar 3133 days laterNairobi, Kenyaphoto_camera14videocam 0comment 4 -
15Memory lane not so rosy!
Apr 0841 days laterVipingo, Mombasa, Kenyaphoto_camera21videocam 0comment 1
Comments

2025-02-06
Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank
Jill Kargaard
2016-02-27
Hi Gillie and Mike, I've been away and haven't had access to my emails. I'm pleased to read that you are enjoying good old SA again. I hope we will meet up again sometime. Love Jill
Jill Kargaard
2016-02-27
Hi Gillie and Mike, I've been away and haven't had access to my emails. I'm pleased to read that you are enjoying good old SA again. I hope we will meet up again sometime. Love Jill
gillie.bowen
2016-02-27
Hello Jill
Yes, having an amazing and wonderful time here again in your wonderful country. So nice to hear from you. I'm sure we will meet up again; it will be hard to keep us away from SA!
All the best, Gillie
Mike Garside
2016-02-27
Rorke's Drift is definitely one for the bragging' list, Gillie. It's one I'd like to have had. Glad you've done it. And glad, too, that this expedition is going well for you both. I continue to enjoy the read. xx