Drakensberg Holidays

One of the most moving stories to be told about the battles between the Boer and British troops took place on the doorstep of Three Tree Hill Lodge. Specialising in the history of the South African War, (also known as the second Anglo-Boer War), with the Battle of Spioenkop being the focal point. The Battle of Spioenkop tour tells of the bloodiest single day in the entire South African War. Astonishingly, Louis Botha, a young Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi all played a role in this battle.

Out in the field near the town of Ladysmith expert guides Simon Blackburn and Ron Gold bring this tragic story to life. The lodge is full of historical memorabilia but not everyone is interested in visiting the battle site and so Ron will go to the lodge to do a pre-talk about the events leading up to the battle.

Kop means head in Dutch. Guests walk around the plateau of the kop where, with no knowledge of the local geology, the British soldiers found themselves digging incredibly shallow trenches. Even worse, when the mist lifted, the troops saw that they hadn’t climbed to the highest kop at all and were horribly exposed. A war correspondent, Winston Churchill, served as messenger between the soldiers on the kop and the generals below. The story is told in such an emotive way that you can almost feel the bullets and shells coming at you.