Oribi Gorge!

Our base of operations—as it was—for our time in South Africa was Port Shepstone, where my grandparents have lived for some years. We rented a holiday house just off the beach and went out from there for our trips to game parks, etc. as well as day trips nearby. A couple of our day trips were to Oribi Gorge, especially to Lake Eland park. Our first trip there was for a horseback game-viewing safari. My son and I saddled up and went for our tour around the park with a young couple and our guide. It was my son’s first horseback riding experience, and my first in many years—there are muscles that attested to that reality for a few days afterward, I assure you! The highlight of the day was certainly when we left the path for a while to view a mixed herd of blesbok and eland (the largest antelope in South Africa). They are impressive animals! My son got to find out up-close-and-personal when the rest of the horses started moving on, but his wanted to stay and graze. I guess the eland objected to this infringement on their turf, though, as three of them came up and started to chase him off! Thankfully, the horse decided to agree with my son’s assessment that it was time to get out of there!

We went back to the gorge for another adventure on the advice of my sister, who had been on the zip-line there the year before. This time, all four of us went, and had a great time swooping over the magnificent tree-lined gullies, and open water of the fourteen-line system from top-to-bottom of a section of Oribi Gorge. My mum and son were the least certain that it was a good idea when we started out, so it was with justifiable pride that they purchased the “I did it!” T-shirts available after the crew had driven us back up the substantial hillside and returned us to our car. The two guides who had accompanied us on the ride were a great support throughout, giving tips on when best to apply brakes (or not), and encouraging our flagging courage when we were facing particularly steep drops.

Mountains and Battlefields

Having experienced the coast, we drove inland, past Pietermaritzburg, to the Drakensburg Mountains. Our plan was to stay at Kamberg park, and walk up to see the impressive San paintings in the caves the following morning. Sadly, the weather decided otherwise for us. For most of our stay, the mountains were shrouded in mist, and even rain, so the climb was not an option. Fortunately, there was a back-up plan. Many of the small businesses in that section of Kwa-Zulu Natal have joined efforts to create a kind of perpetual studio tour, so you can acquire a map, and then drive around to the shops and studios of different artisans, with coffee stops and accommodations also indicated on your map. We took full advantage of this option, and enjoyed several stops along the way. As it was rather chilly, the refreshment stops with hot food were especially appreciated!

Once out of the mountains, we continued north toward Newcastle, where my dad’s cousin has run a game farm for many years. We had a fabulous visit, getting to know members of our family we hadn’t seen in decades (and in some cases, never before).

A highlight of that stay was a guided tour of three of the critical battles of Kwa-Zulu Natal of the 1800s. The first battlefield was at Bleod Rivier (Blood River) where there was an incredible standoff between a small group of Boer (farmers of Dutch extraction—later to be known as Afrikaaners) fighting men and the fighting forces of the Zulu nation. Our guide was brilliant in his description of the forces involved—psychological as well as physical—as these two groups encountered one another in the wee hours of a January morning after camping out practically beside one another in a dense fog all night before. It is truly astounding that the battle went in favour of the Boers in their laager formation (circle of covered wagons with fighting fences to prevent incursion) instead of the mighty Zulu force that surrounded them, but it happened! The river was renamed after that battle to account for the change of its colour due to the massive loss of Zulu blood into the stream that day.

The second and third battlefields were from conflicts between the British and the Zulu almost a century later. These were at Isandlwana and Rourke’s Drift. In the first, the British were routed completely due to an incredible combination of really poor leadership of the British troops (the general in charge managed to disappear for the duration of the battle—hmmmmm), superior strategy on the part of the Zulu commanders (they knew exactly where and when to attack and made excellent use of the terrain), and sheer unfortunate luck for many of those on the ground (messages got lost or misinterpreted, supplies ran out, etc.). The battle at Rourke’s Drift was a continuation of the one at Isandlwana, the following day, and like the one at Bloed Rivier, was an amazing feat of survival for a small force holed up at a farm, protected as much by prayer and circumstance as any military brilliance.