Visiting Rorkes Drift from a cruise liner on a day trip

Hello all. This is my first post and I'd like to say what a great site this is.
Congratulations to the Admin and all those involved.
In early June my wife and I will be visiting South Africa in the liner Sun Princess out of Fremantle.
I am looking for help about ways of getting to Rorkes Drift from either Durban or Richards Bay ?

Aussie

It is not impossible from Durban, but you would need an early start. The drive is about 3 and a half hours, via Petermaritzburg and on to Dundee, Richards Bay is closer as the crow flies, but the roads are not so good cross country.

You need about an hour and half at RD, then a 25 minute drive to Isandlwana, where you will need 2-3 hours, making sure you take call at the Visitor centre. Try and be on your way back for 3pm, as it will be dark by 7.

I'd actually go to Isandlwana first, then to RD as it brings you closer to the main road for your trip back.

If any of the SA members see this they may offer you a little better "local" advice, but by sticking to main roads it will make life easier.


.

I drove it about 3 or 4 months ago from Durban up through Gingindlovu, Eshowe and Babanango. It a little longer that way, but there is so much more to see AZW related. It would be a very difficult one day trip and you would be getting back after dark, which is not recommended. I agree with going to Isandlwana first.

If you are up for it, it is well worth the effort.

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to answer guys.
To elaborate on my problem.
The ship arrives for disembarkation at Richards Bay at 8am and departs at 5pm.
The ship arrives Durban at 7am and departs at 8pm.
I have looked at day trips and these all leave Durban at 6am and get back at 7pm. A simular situation exists at Richards Bay.
This is virtually impossible to do the way things are and that's if everything goes well for the day. Only need a puncture to add to the times and miss the ship.
Is there a light airstrip at Rorkes Drift or at a town nearby?
I am thinking of getting a party of guys together on the ship to share a light plane. We could then get local transport out to the site.
Can anyone help with this please?

Hi Aussie welcome to the forum.

That was the question i was going to ask (Disembarkation times) but you answered the question in your last post.

Whether you depart from Richards Bay or Durban, a day trip to Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift is a nightmarish journey of a minimum of 4 1/2 hours there and 4 1/2 hours back. The road between Richards Bay and Empangeni is heavily monitored by traffic authorities at 60 kmk/h. As Neil has indicated, you need at least 2 hours at Isandlwana and 2 hours at Rorke's Drift, which are 20 to 30 minutes apart (and the two battles are inextricably linked, so should be included in the trip). Add these times together and you get about 14 hours with comfort breaks. Rather spend the time at Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Park and dangle the Battlefields on the end of a line for a return visit - to cover them properly.
The nearest airstrip is at Dundee. A flight from Durban or Richards Bay will have to be chartered and will be very expensive.
Regards, Ken

Chard1879 wrote:

Hi Aussie welcome to the forum.

That was the question i was going to ask (Disembarkation times) but you answered the question in your last post.

Well done that 'Officer of engineers'. Thanks.

Ken Gillings wrote:

Whether you depart from Richards Bay or Durban, a day trip to Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift is a nightmarish journey of a minimum of 4 1/2 hours there and 4 1/2 hours back. The road between Richards Bay and Empangeni is heavily monitored by traffic authorities at 60 kmk/h. As Neil has indicated, you need at least 2 hours at Isandlwana and 2 hours at Rorke's Drift, which are 20 to 30 minutes apart (and the two battles are inextricably linked, so should be included in the trip). Add these times together and you get about 14 hours with comfort breaks. Rather spend the time at Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Park and dangle the Battlefields on the end of a line for a return visit - to cover them properly.
The nearest airstrip is at Dundee. A flight from Durban or Richards Bay will have to be chartered and will be very expensive.
Regards, Ken

Nice one Ken. Is the Hluhuwe/Imflozi Park far from the port at Richards Bay?
If I got a hire car in Richards Bay, can I self drive throughout the park and view the animals from the car? Is that the way it's done?

Good morning (evening in Oz?).
Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Park is only about 90 minutes from the cruise terminal at Richards Bay. I'd hire a car at RB and arrange with one of the safari companies at Hluhluwe to join them in their game-viewing vehicle. If you send me an e-mail to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I'll get the operators to respond directly to you if you wish.
Regards, Ken

The other alternative is a Helicopter, a friend of mine actually did it and quite reasonably too! (I was surprised how little it was when shared by four people.), then when leaving buzzing Rob Caskie over his Isandlwana lecture....not a clever thing to do..but taken in good spirit!, Fugitives Drift have a landing co-ordinate, and if you contact them they can put something on for you as they run the landrovers and tours to the battlefields and give you lunch.


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I have seen on the forum that some of the package tours, include tour guides who will talk about the various Battles and you walk the Battlefields, But its seems some of the Guides employed by the companies, tend to makeup a lot of what really happened. So I would be very annoyed to learn after paying quite a lot of money is was not like that and it really didn’t happen. I know they have to make money and make the tour interesting but for me it would have to be the absolute truth of what really to place.

Its there a list of the best Battlefield guide’s recommended, those with some sort of qualification in the subject and who know the Battlefields like the back of their hands.

Mr.G

That's the difference between a guide and a specialist military history / battlefield guide!

I might add that minimum standards are being set for guides to register as specialist battlefield guides. Once the standards have been approved by SAQA (SA Qualifications Authority), Guides will need to pass those minimum standards to qualify as specialist battlefield guides. There are three levels that have been formulated:
Site Guide (eg only at Isandlwana, Rorke's Drift, Spioenkop etc);
Regional Guide (mainly sites within a Province or several Provinces within South Africa);
National (which will be like completing a University Degree in History, but on a minimum number of historican eras in South Africa's history).

At the moment, anyone who is qualified as a Culture Guide may provide a battlefield experience. This has led to appalling dissertation and imaginative interpretation, resulting in several complaints being lodged with both the company and the Provincial Tourism Authority. For example, one guide was overheard at Rorke's Drift informing his clients that 17 Iron Crosses were 'won' in the Battle.

I was appointed to THETA's Standards Generating Body to put these proposals together and we had excellent input from the SA Military History Society, several academics, high-ranking members of the military and several Museums. I believe that they will be world class, but unfortunately as most of you know, the wheels of officialdom turn slowly.

I might add that despite the fact that I was tasked with putting these standards together, I will also have to be fully assessed before being listed as a Specialist Battlefield Guide - despite having done so for 44 years! The problem is finding an institution to do the assessing...

Nonetheless, it will result in a significant clean-up and an influx of highly qualified Tourist Guides. What is also good news is that international guides should be able to be qualified to guide in South Afrca as well.

Ken

Morning Mr Greaves.
I think that this guide exaggeration stuff exists all over the world, from the First World War or American Civil war. Most people want their moneys worth at the expense of reality and accept romanticized versions of the truth.
Back here in the 'Great South Land" if you go into the Northern Territory to see the so called Aboriginal Dreamtime, guides quickly point out that modern aviation has it's roots in the Aboriginal invention of the boomerang and that Boeing would never have been able to get anything off the ground if it wasn't for them.
Most in the 'dreamtime' audience want to hear this as much as people at the Rorkes Drift experience, with only the movie Zulu as their prior knowledge, want to hear what happened in the movie.

Ken I'm e-mailing you.