Roxanne Reid
  • Home
  • Book author
    • Travels in the Kalahari >
      • Photo gallery: Travels in the Kalahari
      • Book reviews: Travels in the Kalahari
    • A Walk in the Park >
      • Photo gallery: A Walk in the Park
      • Book reviews: A Walk in the Park
    • The Essential Guide to Self-Editing >
      • Book reviews: Essential Guide to Self-Editing
    • Betrayed
    • Book reviews online
  • Editing & proofreading
  • In the media
    • Travel features
    • Health features
    • Online media
    • Media kit
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Links
  • Contact

Spion Kop: how to botch a battle

17/11/2014

6 Comments

 
SPion Kop, KZN battlefields
By Roxanne Reid
Spion Kop near Winterton in KwaZulu-Natal was the site of one of the most futile battles of the Anglo-Boer War. The Brits, frankly, made a bit of a hash of it. At the end of a long hot day of fighting, at least 380 people were dead but nothing much had been achieved. It’s a sad example of how to botch a battle.

Imagine a skirmish in which the guy in command doesn’t even know he’s supposed to be calling the shots. Where a lot of energy goes into digging a trench at the top of a hill, only to find when the mist clears that you’re not really at the top; in fact, you’re being fired on by the enemy and are going to have to start all over again to dig another trench higher up.
SPion Kop, KZN battlefields
The trenches and graves stretch on the Acre of Massacre at the top of the hill
We visited the site of the Spion Kop battle recently with Alastair Heron of Spion Kop Lodge. He and his father Raymond regularly take tours to the battlefields from their lodge nearby. Although you can visit Spion Kop on your own, I highly recommend going with a guide to make the day’s events, its sights, sounds and scents come alive.

Read about the miscommunication and cock-ups of the battle in my account of the tour on Getaway magazine's website.
SPion Kop, KZN battlefields
The battlefield site has three monuments to those who fell at Spion Kop, this one to the British soldiers
Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
6 Comments
Jonker - Firefly link
19/11/2014 03:36:03 am

I got to visit the Spioenkop site a couple of years ago when we were camping in the Drakensberg. Visiting a place like this one gets a deep seeded connection with what happened there so many years ago. You feel the atmosphere and the emotions. Or perhaps its just me.

Reply
Roxanne link
20/11/2014 12:28:36 am

No, Jonker, it's not just you.

Reply
Stuart link
19/11/2014 07:25:50 am

Haven't done this tour yet but its on my list. I did guided tours of Isandlwana and Rorkes' Drift with Fugitives' Drift Lodge which were incredible experiences. So much passion goes into how the stories are told which brings it all to life.

Reply
Roxanne link
20/11/2014 12:30:23 am

Those two were David Rattray's hallmark battlefields, weren't they? Hope the guides there now are as well informed and passionate as he was.

Reply
sakkie schabort
23/11/2014 12:31:23 am

The battle of spioenkop is still fresh in my memory. The story of the battle was masterfully told to us, as small grandkids, by my grandfather around dim candle light on his highveld farm, near Middelburg. We were mesmerised by the stories about the battles and Henri Slegtkamp under which my grandpa fought during the Jameson Raid and the battles of Colenso and Spioenkop.

Reply
Roxanne link
23/11/2014 02:58:04 am

How lucky you are, Sakkie, what a wonderful way to learn about our history.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get email links to the latest blogs

    Buy my books
    NEW e-book 2017
    2nd ed e-book 2015
    E-book 2012​

    About 

    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
    Since 2015, travel buddy and husband Keith has been the primary photographer for this blog.
    We're happiest in the middle of nowhere, meeting the locals, trying something new, or simply watching the grass grow.
    In this blog you can discover new places to go, revisit places you've loved, or take a virtual tour of destinations you only dream about.

    Popular posts 

    * Top 5 favourite national parks in South Africa
    ​
    * Sleep in a cave: where to stay in the Baviaanskloof
    ​​* 15 things to do at Mapungubwe
    * 8 things to do and see in Sutherland
    * How to choose a camp site at Chobe, Botswana
    *​ 17 things to do in Tulbagh, Cape Winelands
    ​​​
    ​Other blogs I write for
    Africa Freak
    Africa Geographic
    Getaway
    Untold Africa
    Wild

    Categories

    All
    Baviaanskloof
    Berg En Dal Kruger
    Books
    Botswana
    Camping
    Cape Town
    Chobe
    Conservation
    Drc
    Eastern Cape
    Etosha Namibia
    Food
    Free State
    Garden Route
    Gauteng
    Guest Blogs
    Issues
    Kalahari
    Karoo
    Kenya
    Kruger National Park
    Kwazulu Natal
    Lesotho
    Letaba Kruger
    Limpopo
    Linyanti
    Malawi
    Mozambique
    Mpumalanga
    Namaqualand
    Namibia
    Nature Parks
    Northern Cape
    Okavango
    Olifants Kruger
    Overberg
    People
    Photography
    Richtersveld
    Satara Kruger
    Tanzania
    Travel
    Tsendze Kruger
    Videos
    West Coast
    Western Cape
    Wild Creatures
    Zambia
    Zimbabwe

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009

Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za

​

Photos used under Creative Commons from berniedup, t_y_l, Lucy_Hill
✕