This tour is a short and fast version of the 2 day tour and we spend our time primarily at the two major battlefields of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. We depart early in the morning and arrive after dark in the evening. The tour is specifically designed for those folks who only have a day, but beware, it is a long day!

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Durban is the main harbour city of the province of KwaZulu Natal, on the east coast of the South Africa, and benefits from year-round warm waters making it one of South Africa's top vacation spots. Durban is also one of Africa's busiest and most important ports, and is an intriguing cultural blend of East, West and Africa, which with its endless summer climate, effervescent and lukewarm ocean lined with golden beaches, offers a subtropical carnival atmosphere all year round.

We travel westwards past Pietermaritzburg to the famous and awe-inspiring battlefields of Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana where we spend most of our time today.

The Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in South Africa, a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians. Despite a vast disadvantage in weapons technology, the numerically superior Zulus ultimately overwhelmed the poorly led and badly deployed British, killing over 1,300 troops, including all those out on the forward firing line. The Zulu army suffered around a thousand killed.

The battle was a crushing victory for the Zulus and caused the defeat of the first British invasion of Zululand. The British army had suffered its worst defeat against a technologically inferior indigenous force. However, Isandlwana resulted in the British taking a much more aggressive approach in the Anglo-Zulu War, leading to a heavily reinforced second invasion and the destruction of King Cetshwayo's hopes of a negotiated peace.

The Battle of Rorke's Drift, was a battle in the Anglo-Zulu War. The defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, immediately followed the British Army's defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, and continued into the following day, 23 January. Just over 150 British and colonial troops successfully defended the garrison against an intense assault by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. The massive  Zulu attacks on Rorke's Drift came very close to defeating the tiny garrison but were ultimately repelled. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours.

Then we travel via Babanango, and if time permits, to Ulundi where our last stop is at Chetswayo's Kraal, Ondini, where the British army revenged the battle of Isandlwana.

We return to Durban via Melmoth and Eshowe and arrive in the evening.

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