Touring from Durban to Drakensburgs - June 18

We decided that trying to get close to Swaziland and spending the night, so that we could drive into and around Swaziland and get back close to Durban the next day, would involve just too much driving, pressure, etc. and not allow the leisure we wanted to enjoy.  So we decided to drive up into the Drakensburgs and see what we could find.

We walked over to another hotel and got our hire car, checked out of the Balmoral and headed up the Comrades route NW on N3 through Pietermaritzburg. After going through the Mooi toll barrier, where I got a shot of a real township, we got in a pretty serious traffic jam, for about 15K. But it was just a lane reduction for construction.

We got off and asked directions, having decided to visit the Drakensburg Range. We got off the highway at Colenso, and went west through Winterton to Bergville. There, as it was getting dark, we saw a sign for the Sandford Park Lodge, and having no other information about a place to stay, we followed the signs. Driving up the long path to the parking lot, I was having serious doubts, as I feared it was a tourist trap. In the parking lot, there were only two cars, but we parked "prettily" as the sign said and went to check in. The ladies showed us to our rooms, which were huge, 4 beds each, and insisted on helping us carry our bags from the car.

We decided to shower and meet for dinner in the bar. I got there first, and was amazed to find Guinness, good Guinness, on tap, and Phil Collins on the sound system. With a coal fire in the fireplace, and 5 people at the bar, Tom and I took a cozy and drained two pints each. The drums called us to dinner. This was beginning to get surreal. We were nowhere we knew, in the middle of the bush, in a lodge with thatched roofs, Guinness on tap, playing Roy Orbison on the sound system, with Zulu drums calling us to dinner. We were shown into an elegant dining room, and consumed the most scrumptious dinner you could imagine – smoked salmon appetizer, French onion soup, and I chose the sirloin fillet with "homemade monkey gland sauce." It was out of this world. A bottle of wine, and dessert was vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce. The owner welcomed each table of guests (there were four groups now – Tom and me, a young couple, an older couple, and a family of 3). After dinner Tom and I went to my cabin, NCONCOSI, to make a few Father’s Day phone calls. After that, we decided to go back to the bar and Tom bought everyone a nightcap.

There, we discovered that the mother of the family of three had also run, and had run 9:51, and was in the Florida RC, and knew Tiekie. So we had some animated conversation, were fairly drunk, and enjoyed it a great deal.

The Zululand Battlefields - June 19

I got up really early, about 5:30, thinking I’d see the sun rise. I sat in the dark for over an hour, forgetting that sunrise wasn’t until 7:00. Tom and I walked around the lake and took photos.

After a great breakfast, we checked out and headed for Zululand. We drove through Ladysmith and got petrol in Dundee, then found the dirt road to Rorke’s Drift. It was a bad road, but we had wrapped our bags in garbage liners again, and eventually arrived at Rorke’s Drift. We gladly paid the R8 fee and went through the museum (we were the only ones there). We took a couple snapshots out in front, looked at the cemetery and decided to head for Ishlandwana. We found a road that was not on the map that appeared to be the route of the retreating troops, and took that. It went to Ishlandwana after some time, and we paid another 8R there. We drove up to the mount, looked around, and that was it. There was a bus load of students leaving as we got there, and we had the battlefield to ourselves. There were many graves marked with piles of stones painted white. There were several monuments to those who gave their lives "for queen and country."

We took dirt roads back to the tarmac at Babanango, then through the forests of eucalyptus and sugar cane, through Melmoth, Empangeni, Eshowe, Mandini and to Stanger. At Stanger, we tried to find a lodge off the N2, but after driving a long way and seeing a sign that it was another 5K, in the dark, with people walking everywhere, we decided to get back on N2 and spend the night in Durban, which we did, at the Balmoral.