Four Day or One Day Eastern Cape Battlefield Tours

For more information on the Four Day Eastern Cape Battlefield Tours click here

Rate R2250.00 Per Person per Day - Min 2 Persons
 

For details on the One Day Eastern Cape Battlefield Tours click here

Rate R1850.00 Per Person - Min 2 Persons
(Prices subject to change without prior notice.)

Shield Tours offers unique tours of the hinterland of the Eastern Cape. Based on the nine frontier wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, fought between British and Colonial forces on the one hand and Xhosa warriors on the other, these wars took place over a period of 100 years.

Based on the battlefields and forts of that era our tours take you through some of the most beautiful regions in the country, with scenery and fauna and flora as diverse as the many cultures that comprise the "Crucible of the Rainbow Nation".

The tours are well researched by THETA qualified guides. You are also accompanied by a Xhosa chief (a member of Shield Tours) to ensure that you are given "both sides of the story" and a piper to lend atmosphere to the trip.

A number of one to four day permutations have been designed and we cater specifically for smaller groups of four to fifteen clients. Larger groups can, however, be accommodated.

Accompany us on typical one day and four days tour, experiencing the natural beauty, culture and history of the region and the hospitality of its people.

Battlefield tours Highlights (One Day Tour)

• Visits to Fort Selwyn and 1820 Settlers Monument

• Briefing on Signal Hill

• Short city tour of the Settler City of Grahamstown

• Battle of Grahamstown

• Typical Settler country

• Rustic Settler village of Bathurst

• Return along the Sunshine Coast

For details on the One day Eastern Cape Battlefield Tour click here.

Battlefield tours Highlights (Four Day Tour)

• Visits to numerous frontier wars battle sites, the relics of forts, a fortified farm and lonely graves

• Listen to the accounts of battles, stories and anecdotes, told by descendants of the European Settlers and Xhosa warriors of the wars

• Overnight in a nature reserve, a mountain forest inn and private game farm

• Visits to rustic frontier towns and villages

• Experience beautiful, diverse scenery - rugged bush, mountain forests, grassy plains, pristine coastline

• Enjoy typical South African cuisine

For more information on the 4 day Eastern Cape Battlefields tour click here

In four days and three nights you can experience the breathtaking beauty of the Sunshine Coast, the lushness of the mountain forests and the rugged solitude of valley bushveld, teeming with wildlife. Share in the cultural heritage of its people and relive the turmoil of war that helped shape the destiny of the Frontier Country, indeed the crucible of the Rainbow Nation. For the detail of each of the four days of this tour, click on the DETAIL button next to each day.

Battlefield tours Day 1: - Port Elizabeth to Double Drift Nature Reserve.

After scene setting at the headquarters of one of our traditional regiments, we travel east along the Sunshine coast via Alexandria, the holiday resort of Port Alfred, to the rustic Settler village of Bathurst. After a light lunch we visit Frasers Camp, the battle sites of Fort Peddie, besieged and attacked by 8000 Xhosa warriors in 1846, the Mgwangwa River, scene of a cavalry charge by the 7th Dragoon Guards and Cape Mounted Rifles and comfortable chalets in the rugged Fish River Valley near Fort Double Drift.

Battlefield tours Day 2: - Double Drift Nature Reserve to Hogsback.

We head North East reliving the epic (but little known) Battle of the Ridge, 1850, mass grave of Lt. Baillie and his patrol of 30 men, wiped out in 1834 and the scenes of British military setbacks in the battles of Boomah Pass (1850) and Burushill (1846). We travel North up the beautiful Tyume Valley where the male occupants of three military villages were wiped out on Christmas Day, 1850. Into the lushly forested Amatola Mountains to the Hogsback where we overnight in one of the forest inns in this quaint mountain village.

Battlefield tours Day 3: - Hogsback to Waterkloof.

After a short sojourn in the village, our route takes us via the villages of Seymour and Balfour to Fort Armstrong in the Kat River Valley. Occupied by Khoi rebels, the fort was attacked by British and Colonial forces on 22 January 1851 where 120 rebels were killed before the fort was retaken. From there we visit the Fort Fordyce area, scene of bitter fighting over a period of fourteen months in the 8th Frontier War. Our overnight destination is Molweni, a private game farm where we are accommodated in a luxury bush camp or an old refurbished farmstead, A day or night game drive is included in our itinerary.

Battlefield tours Day 4: - Waterkloof to Port Elizabeth.

Our itinerary includes a visit to a typical fortified farm of that period together with a live firearms demonstration of weapons used during the wars. We pay a brief visit to places of interest in the frontier town of Fort Beaufort before heading for Grahamstown visiting Fort Brown en route. On the heights above the city, we revisit the Battle of Grahamstown where on 22 April 1819, 20 000 Xhosa attacked the little garrison, being repulsed with a loss of 2000 warriors. After a short tour of Grahamstown we return to Port Elizabeth via the Settler village of Salem.

• For more information on the 4 day Eastern Cape Battlefield tours click here

Customised day and overnight tours in the Eastern Cape are available on request.

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