....and the journey was beautiful

[lamercyfly]

O! om my huisie aan die Son-op kant van 'n bergie te bou,

tussen vriende,

dit moet net so mooi tussen die wilde grasse en rotse le^,

waar 'n rivier, wie se naam 'wandel' is,

deur my kinder se speel-plek loop,

waar ek op my ou dae kan sit, en kyk, en kyk.... ,

en my oe met 'n glimlag die sonnetjie verwelkom.

Ek mag droom mag ek nie?

En aan dit klou.........

[ZULU1]

Hey Dave

I flew many hours around the battlefields, that looks very much like the Colenso oxbow in the river where the Boers annihilated the Brits ??

Is this correct ?? A irish Cemetry was on the edge of it ?? Fly over the top and you come into the back of Ladysmith.

hamba fundisa siZulu mkhulu !

Zulu1

[zucac]

what was that in english

[lamercyfly]

Hey Paul..

No, it was in the area, but not where you say........

It was on the leg out of Ladysmith (Piet's Farm, about 22km outside Ladysmith on the Newcastle road), on the way to Van Reenen's.......

Really beautiful scenery.....And we think flying the coast everyday is great

See ya.

[ZULU1]

Yep, Dave, I now know where you mean, past Elaandslaagte, for those that dont know the area, that was very close to where the Brit Lancers fought the last battle on horseback. They annihilated the Boers in that battle. During the siege of Ladysmith we found the site of the Boers magazine only a few kms from Piets farm. Closer to Ladysmith itself.
Also very close to the N3 is a Francescan Monastery.

In winter it is possible to see many landmarks with the dry veldt. I promised to do a Battle tour in that area, next year Brett and we will get the locals to put up a ground show for us. The interesting trip is near the Churchill train disaster where the bridges are visible as the Boers blew them up. Best in a trike as you fly slow...

Zulu1 exactly

[coen]

That photo is the Klipriver flood plain south east of the Besters district with the huts showing belonging to the "driefontein" rural community. I fly over there almost every time i fly to do my stocktheft patrol?
Zulu just 4 your reference, it is along the the driefontein road just before Tony's farm of the N11.

It is nice to be reminded of the beauty that i take for granted, because of my association with stocktheft and other problems i dont always see what other people see.

Thanks for the visit Dave, Piet sends his regards.

[Tumbleweed]

Awesome,

Travelling around our patch of paradise - Mpumalanga escarpment, I've tried to show my brats that a boer war actually happened.

Sadly, from Volsrust, Wakkerstroom to Ermelo, besides Majuba and a few memorial plaques, there is hardly any museum of content. Besides an ossewa, coupla spears and an old tannies' rok, there's nothing of substance.

Most curators claim that local farmers withdrew all there 'donations' of pictures, documents, mausers e.t.c. after 1995, and their exhibits far outweigh the musems. It's almost obvious that local history does'nt carry any value.

It's an awesome view from the top of Majuba, scanning the old TVL, Natal and Free State without moving, watching the eagles thermaling, imagining the 'Slag of Majuba'.


That said, I think the Natal okes owe the rest of us a fly- in. How about a weekend of guided trike tours?

And to recipocate, I can show you burning ash dumps, toxic Eskom slime dams and meteor-like destruction from dragline coal mining.

[lamercyfly]

I recently read Deneys Reitz's book, 'a boer journal of the boer war'... A beautiful, sad, uplifting, nostalgic.....I can go on and on........

Get it! If you care about what our forfathers went though, get it...and read it...

I would love to do a tour. But it must NOT be rushed, nor commercial.

I want to honour the souls of the lost...

Regards.

[coen]

I think we should talk in the new year and maybe use our runway as base for part of the battlefield tour? between me and piet a few fellars can be accomadated.

Regards Coen.

[ZULU1]

Dave

We have both spoken about this trip many times, as it is really something to do. I lived in Ladysmith for two years and hiked, flew and studied the sites in depth.

I took advice from the veterans of the area and focused on a specific time frame and isolated all other information. So many battles and so much info in such small area you can lose focus on the original objective, To learn !!

I focused on the start of the war in Natal up until the Boer retreat allowing the Brits to relieve Ladysmith. That’s a heap of info. I flew British tourists around and learned so much from them as well as the local FALY club is full of very knowledgeable people. One chap has logged all the missing graves, photographed them and has GPS references. Truly amazing work. Vincent is a trike pilot.

The book that you read sounds like Commando by Deneys Reitz and the other must read is The Boer war by Thomas Pakenham.

Maybe Dave next year I will do it but whilst there maybe we organize two tours,

Starting from the Battlefields lodge at Dundee

Day tour Talana museum, then fly the route of the British retreat to Elandslaagte, (land on Polo field).

Piets farm for coffee then to FALY, stay at the Motel by the Airport.

Visit many sites around Ladysmith by road first then fly them, advise about three days minimum.

Main sites

Colenso
Vaalkrans
Spioenkop
Harts hill/Railway hill then Pieters to the relief route.
Churchill memorial behind the Ultra city on the N3 at Estcourt.

Its not a heavy flight for the coastal guys or the Gauteng chaps.

I will do the route and arrange lectures etc. but maybe Dave you organize the teams of say 6 trikes maximum ?? or some other volunteer wants to arrange the crew.

I would not do the trip unless the pilots/visitors ground crew do their homework first ie read both books.!!

I don’t have time to do the planning but I will take a few days off to do maybe two tours..Really a fantastic trip to do as it will enlighten and lead to further reading.

eish Zulu1

[ZULU1]

Take a look at these:

http://news.webshots.com/album/132811369ssFObs

Taken from FALY as a base.

zulu1

[Tumbleweed]

Interesting reading, from an author on the scene, 1902.

This story needs telling.

http://www.free-ebooks-uk.netfirms.com/ ... index.html