Over the course of the next few hours the British and their allies attempted to hold off the Zulu attack. But sheer weight of numbers told in the end and the Europeans were overwhelmed, with only a few hundred mounted troops and local auxilaries managing to escape the ensuing massacre.
The scene on the battlefield today is one of bleached white cairns marking the places where small groups of British troops fought until the end. On any given day there are one or two battlefield guides such as Irwin taking visitors through those events of 130 years ago, poetically detailing its stirring, moving chapters; from the afternoon eclipse of the sun that darkened the battlefield, to the Zulus’ strategy of encirclement and the desperate efforts of the British infantrymen of the 24th Foot to hold off a vastly superior force.
‘After a never-ending day of stoic defence, those 600 hardy soldiers finally buckled before the Zulu onslaught,’ says Irwin. ‘It was the biggest international news event for decades, the British Empire had been defeated by “savages” dressed in skin and armed [mostly] with spears.’
The Rattrays took over the tiny lodge at Fugitives’ Drift in 1989, with David guiding interested tourists, mostly from the UK, across the battlefield of Isandlwana and to the nearby supply station at Rorkes’ Drift – made famous by the 1967 film Zulu – where 150 British soldiers held off an attack by 4,000 Zulus later the same day.
David himself was fluent in the Zulu language and committed to developing the surrounding, impoverished and still very rural community through the David Rattray Foundation. He formed a warm and close bond with the Zulu people – both colleagues and neighbours – and news of death was greeted with appalled disbelief by most in the local community.
Battlefield guide Dalton Ngobese, recalls fondly how he would often meet and talk to Rattray on the battlefield at Isandlwana. ‘I greeted him that morning [of his murder] out there,’ says Ngobese. ‘We were discussing my family history.’ Ngobese is the great-great grandson of a local chief, Sihayo, who was involved in the war against the British.
Rattray managed to focus tourist interest on a place that lies four hours from the provincial hub of Durban, in one of the most harshly beautiful, rural and tribal parts of South Africa. He helped create an internationally significant attraction in a place where HIV-Aids and poverty are both rife, where the roads are quiet and where life for many continues as it has done for centuries.
iIt is largely down to Rattray’s work that Pat Stubbs became interested in the area and the story of the battles that took place here. Stubbs is a spritely and independently wealthy American retiree from Florida who wanted an investment opportunity in southern Africa.
Stubbs has created Isandlwana Lodge – a 12-bedroom luxury property atop the iNyoni rock formation overlooking the battlefield – perhaps on the very spot where the Zulu commanders would have looked down on their victory unfolding in 1879.
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