A New Era for History's Walk

We just got our website. Yip, you heard right. We are on the Net, at www.historyswalk.co.za Go see. It is a new site, in its first stages, so do not look for prize winning stuff yet, but wait...

Karen Lombard's School Kids from the UK

These kids were a group that came in for the day, on August 29 of last year, from St. Lucia. Karen, in front, drove them in, and joined us at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. Theyw ere a lively bunch, accompanied by their two teachers, who at the end paid more attention to me than the kids. They were very tired after some heavy travelling, but we made a good day of it. Picture taken at the Royal Country Inn in Dundee

Some of our battlefield tour clients

With the Gilbeys at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift - 17 October 2008

The Gilbeys met me in the lobby of the Royal Country Inn. They were an experienced bunch of travellers, and I soon found out that the son could, if not fluently speak Afrikaans, at least command some of it. He had been in Grahamstown for some time. The father - big guy - in the oil industry, worked in Port Harcourt in Nigeria. Not my favourite spot in the world, but we did talk some on the current spate of rebel attacks on oil workers.
It was freezing cold on Isandlwana. We retreated to the faithful old Condor, or "Kondoor" as I refer to it, where I continued. The weather gods are completely off their nuts this time of the year. Temperatures fluctuate like crazy, with wind and what little rain we have had so far, everything was as dry as a bone. Everything went well, in spite of the weather, and we had a interesting time at Rorke's drift too
The day ended in style, with some harmony being had in the pub of the Royal Country Inn in Dundee, one of my favourite watering holes.

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The United States Marine Corps on Majuba - 29 August 2008

This guy on the picture (right) is Joe Torre, a former American Marine officer, and one of my clients. He came through Dundee in the last week of August. We spent two days on the battlefields, especially the Battle of Blood River, the usual visit to Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, and of course, Majuba. When Joe was not doing battlefields, he hunted.We went to Majuba, that timeless battlefield where my ancestors kicked some serious ass on the 27th of February 1881. General Colley, the then GOC of British Forces in South Africa, took a mixed bag of soldiers and sailors up that impossibly steep mountain, thinking that they would have had a position from which they could dominate Boer Forces then entrenched at Laingsnek, below the mountain, in the direction of the border town of Volksrust.It did not work. Boer commandos went up that mountain, inventing the South African military manoevre of “fire and movement” whereby sections of men gave covering fire to men rushing the enemy. Colley was shot for his trouble, Lieutenant MacDonald of the Gordon Highlanders captured, and a legend was born. The haunting poem, “McDonald’s Sword” was written directly afterwards, presumably by one of the soldiers present. (I have placed it on the site.) Joe went up that bloody mountain like a flippen mountain goat, leaving me gasping in his wake. Not bad for a 53 year-old Marine! I took his picture next to the Boer memorial on MacDonald’s Kop. I am standing on the site of the Naval Detachment’s old position, facing the camera, but the shot faces slightly northwest, (left)with Sailor’s Knoll and Nkwelo away to my left, off-picture to the right of the photograph.

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Andy Thackwray's Borst Group - An almost forgotten lot - 21 October 2008

Yes, yes, I did almost forgot this very keen group of Dutch visitors to our wind-wracked shores. They were brought here by fellow tour guide Andy Thackwray, (that's the big guy with the bigger smile in the back) and came on trek in the footsteps of Andries Pretorius and his band of merry men who fought the epic battle of Blood River on December 16, 1838. Picture taken in the lounge of the Royal Country Inn in Dundee. Andy is a Western Cape guide, and can be found on Facebook.

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History's Walk B&B - Our Guest Rooms and Rates for 2009

Our Guest Rooms at History's Walk:

The Namib Room is our double, with en-suite shower and television. It has a very big shower, with handmade tiles by Michele, and looks on to the front garden. The photographs against the wall had been taken by me, in the Namib Desert.

(Namib Room)
The Boland Room is one of our twins, with two single beds. It has an ensuite shower, also with handmade floor by Michele. It looks out on the back garden and studio, and represents our time spend in Paarl, in the Boland, Western Cape.

(The Boland Room)

The Puntje Room is our smaller twin room, with two single beds, and has an en-suite bathroom. It is a rather quirky representation of Johann's time spent in Belgium. A unique feature of this room is Michele's handmade tiles, inlaid where the passage wall used to be.

(The Puntje Room)

Our Rates for 2009

Selfcatering option:

There is a selfcatering kitchen. This option does not include any served meals,
and we do not do dinners and lunches:

Sharing : R220.00 (ZAR) per person per night.
Single : R240.00 (ZAR) per person per night.

Bed and breakfast:

Sharing : R290.00 (ZAR) per person per night
Single : R310.00 (ZAR) per
person per night.
A prepared breakfast menu is available.

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TOUR GUIDE RATES 2009

R1000.00 per day for the first 10 people
Then R45.00 per person additional
This applies to coach and larger private tours

Smaller groups will be accommodated to a minimum of four passengers, at R300.00 per head. Clients who want to join tours are welcome to use their own vehicles and accompany us.

Please take note that all clients are liable for a ZAR 20.00 entrance fee at all battlefields. This will include the ZAR 20.00 tour guide entrance at all sites where entrance fees are levied for tour guides, notable Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift.

There is a small cafè at Rorke's Drift that sells light lunches and cool drinks, which are for clients' own account.

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Check-in Time from 14:00 to 18:00
Check-out time strictly 10:00
(NB!) If you have to check in before 14:00, or later than 18:00, please arrange beforehand.
No new bookings will be accepted after 21:00

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KINDLY TAKE NOTE THAT WE DO NOT HAVE CREDIT CARD FACILITIES

ATTENTION ALL GUESTS: PLEASE READ DISCLAIMER BELOW!!!

Guest/s attend this establishment at their own risk.History's Walk, its agent/s and/or its employee/s (hereafter called "the Proprietor") shall not be liable for, and the guest/s hereby waive/s and abandon/s any claims of whatever nature including but not limited to that for theft, injury, loss or damage of whatever nature, against the Proprietor, whether arising from the Proprietor's default, negligence or otherwise.The guest/s, in addition to the aforesaid, hereby indemnify the Proprietor against any claims which may arise from whatever nature, whether arising from the Proprietor's default, negligence or otherwise.

Johann & Michele Hamman
Owners, History's Walk B&B

Tel: +27-34-212 3344 (telefax)

Mobile: +27-82-267-2527 (Johann)

Mobile: +27-72-125-6069 (Michele)

Our Scottish Connections - Bill and Rob - 24 October 2008

These two walked all over Dundee, and made more friends in the few days they were here than ayone else. Bill Stirling - Postie to his friends- from the Scottish town of Forfar - presented me with a collection of pipe music not heard at History's Walk since the times of Simon Strachan and his swirling pipes woke us up in the mornings.

(on the right you can see the twa gents, Bill on the left, and Rob on the right, doing the Windhoek lager thing at the local shellhole of the Moths in Dundee)

Bill presented a Forfar calendar and newspaper to the Wades of Forfar farm , which was named after Bill's town. The two guys made a lot of friends in Dundee, and presented the local Moths with a photograph and inscription of the WW2 memorial and a poem written by a 14 year-old school girl.

(Bill and the youngest generation of Wades on Forfar Farm)