A trip to this corner of South Africa is an adventure for history buffs young and old. The rolling grasslands and rocky outcrops of northern KwaZulu-Natal set the stage for several of the country's most significant battles and each site along the Battlefields Route has its own tale to tell. For more than seventy years from 1830 to 1902 three imperious, yet vastly disparate nations - Zulu, British, and Voortrekkers - engaged in a bitter and merciless conflict that shaped South Africa's future.

The Vootrekker victory against the Zulu at Blood River in 18<38 paved the way for the establishment of the Republic of Natalia. Four decades later, the British battled against the Zulu at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift and were embarrassed at the battles of Ladysmith and Spioenkop during the second Anglo-Boer War.