Drakensberg to Ladysmith and on to Carolina

Wednesday, 24th November 2010
The storm had devasted the countryside - telegraph poles lay on the ground, signs and fences were down and the locals were out chasing the cattle back to where they belonged. The Drakensburg mountains were shrouded in thick cloud but we decided to visit anyway.  The area is great for walking but we only managed a short walk to the Cascades as it was still drizzling.  We also visited the San paintings with a guide, walking for half an hour up a hill to a cliff face.  Unfortunately, there was no view!  The paintings were quite good but of the same style as the Australian Aboriginals and the American Anastazi Indians, which makes one realise that man has developed across continents in the same way, although not necessarily on the same timeline.

We decided not to stay in the Drakensberg as there seemed little point so we headed down to Ladysmith and were fortunate to find accommodation at Bullers Lodge.  Named after General Buller a major player for the British in the Anglo-Boer war, the Lodge had collected memorabilia from the battlefields and the town.  We sat in the little museum, at a rough wooden table, with kerosene lamps and ate our takeaway Nando's - it was all slightly surreal.

Thursday, 25th November 2009
We visited the Ladysmith Siege Museum to find out more the 118 day siege of Ladysmith.  The British forces were holed up here, surrounded by the Boers.  The Boers had a gun called long Tom on the hillside and fired cannon balls into the town. Although Long Tom was the first long range gun, it was woefully inaccute and the shells, more often than not, didnt explode and buried themselves in the ground.  There are wonderfully humourous accounts from the British, of how they carried on playing football, ducking the shells as they flew overhead, or carrying on playing cards when a shell hit the ground beside them and covered them in sand.

We also visited the Cultural Museum and learned more about the Ladysmith Black Mambaso Group who won every competition they entered - the prize was usually a goat!

On the way up to Carolina we stopped at an Anglo-Boer battle site to stretch our legs.  The guide in charge was quite scary - a white Afrikkaner who had clearly not seen anyone for a long time.  We declined the offer to climb the mountain to visit the site as we felt the car might not be there when we got back......!  The museum was damp, dirty and not worth the visit.  The guide grumbled that he had to keep the toilets clean for visitors as part of his duties - we thought they had not been cleaned since 1983!

With extreme haste, we left the site and journeyed up to Carolina, staying overnight at a B&B. The lads who booked us in were keen rugby fans and insisted, quite humorously, that South Africa would completely decimate England in the match on Saturday - they made our day!