skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The B&B, as seen from McKenzie Street. We have three rooms, the Namib Room, the Boland Room and the Puntje Room
With the Dundee Diehards at the Prince Imperial site
Michele in a moment of reflection next to the graves on Spioenkop
With God and the Mauser
History's Walk B&B in Dundee, KZN is an old, patiently restored house of Anglo-Boer War vintage. We have a large, tranquil garden and our famous Stoep is well-known for a quick coffee or a glass of wine with friends.
History's Walk B&B
The B&B, as seen from McKenzie Street. We have three rooms, the Namib Room, the Boland Room and the Puntje Room
Our Rates for 2009 - An extract from the page
Contact numbers: +27-34-212 3344 (telefax)
Your hostess: Michele +27-72-125-6069 (mobile)
See Blog archives below for pictures of the rooms
There are two options available, namely:
Bed and Breakfast
ZAR 310.00 pppn single
ZAR 290.00 pppn sharing
Selfcatering
ZAR 220.00 pppn sharing
ZAR 210.00 pppn single
Your hostess: Michele +27-72-125-6069 (mobile)
See Blog archives below for pictures of the rooms
There are two options available, namely:
Bed and Breakfast
ZAR 310.00 pppn single
ZAR 290.00 pppn sharing
Selfcatering
ZAR 220.00 pppn sharing
ZAR 210.00 pppn single
Blog Pages
- Karen Lombard's School Kids from the UK
- Our Guest Rooms and Rates for 2009
- Our Scottish Connections - Bill and Rob - 24 October 2008
- Our website
- Some of our battlefield tour clients
- The Battle of Blood River - An opinion
- The Dundee Diehards
- The life and times of Phil Gibson
- The Swiss Group and my first German Tour of the Year - 4 October 2008
Blog Archive
In the Dundee Diehards
With the Dundee Diehards at the Prince Imperial site
McDonald's Sword - by an unknown author
"The campfire was red on our faces, but despair in our hearts were black.
We'd fought, we'd fought, we'd failed - they had beaten us back and back.
Ourt country's flag and her honour to us had been given in trust.
Her honour we'd lost on the mountains; her flag we'd dragged in the dust.
Ah, many a comrade still lying on that stark hillside.
We'd envied with bitter longing; would to God we had also died.
Sweeter were death than capture, sweeter were death than shame-
The shame that our pride had yielded to a foe of despised name.
And our captain gave his sword up; its blade tonight was dim;
The sword his comrades gave him to show their pride in him.
He gave it up in silence, but we who knew his heart
Could guess the wild regretting, the biting pain and smart.
To yield his sword is an anguish that cuts a man full sore.
But his had a sting still keener, for he gave it up to a Boer.
They took it too, in silence that sternly quiet band
And read of the honour that won it as they passed it from hand to hand.
Then spake their leader in words low and plain,
'We take not the sword of a brave man'. and they handed it back again.
Many a sun o'er Majuba, since then had risen and set.
Many a year has fleeted since Boer and soldier met.
The winds of life have scattered them, scattered them wide and far.
Those men from down the mountain now carry a heart-deep scar.
But wherever our paths may wander, wherever our winds may blow
To us who stood round that campfire that faded to long ago,
No scornful speech may be uttered of the Boer, nor contemptuous word
For as long as life is in us, we'll remember - McDonald's Sword."
We'd fought, we'd fought, we'd failed - they had beaten us back and back.
Ourt country's flag and her honour to us had been given in trust.
Her honour we'd lost on the mountains; her flag we'd dragged in the dust.
Ah, many a comrade still lying on that stark hillside.
We'd envied with bitter longing; would to God we had also died.
Sweeter were death than capture, sweeter were death than shame-
The shame that our pride had yielded to a foe of despised name.
And our captain gave his sword up; its blade tonight was dim;
The sword his comrades gave him to show their pride in him.
He gave it up in silence, but we who knew his heart
Could guess the wild regretting, the biting pain and smart.
To yield his sword is an anguish that cuts a man full sore.
But his had a sting still keener, for he gave it up to a Boer.
They took it too, in silence that sternly quiet band
And read of the honour that won it as they passed it from hand to hand.
Then spake their leader in words low and plain,
'We take not the sword of a brave man'. and they handed it back again.
Many a sun o'er Majuba, since then had risen and set.
Many a year has fleeted since Boer and soldier met.
The winds of life have scattered them, scattered them wide and far.
Those men from down the mountain now carry a heart-deep scar.
But wherever our paths may wander, wherever our winds may blow
To us who stood round that campfire that faded to long ago,
No scornful speech may be uttered of the Boer, nor contemptuous word
For as long as life is in us, we'll remember - McDonald's Sword."
My Links
About us
- Johann and Michele Hamman
- Dundee, KZN, South Africa
- I am a tour guide in Dundee, KZN, in South Africa, and I have my own Bed & Breakfast, from where I conduct battlefield and nature tours in Kwazulu-Natal. My wife Michele is a potter, textile and fashion designer and artist of repute. She makes coil pots, slab work, colours textiles and will do wheel work when the fancy takes her. I graduated from the University of the Orange Free State with a B.A. in Military History and a Masters in Political Science, as well as a Master of Philosophy in Shipping Law from the University of Cape Town and a postgraduate diploma in law from the University of Brussels. I am a former police officer, member and treasurer of the Dundee Diehards Re-enactment Team and the curator of the Endumeni/Isandlwana Moth Shellhole Museum in Dundee. I traveled extensively, and spent a year in Europe, where I obtained a postgraduate diploma in European and International Law at the Free University of Brussels. I dabble in the military history of the Anglo Boer Wars and the Zulu War of 1879, law and the lure of brave deeds of ages past. I also write about it and free lance for the Northern Natal Courier
Michele, or Vlooi, to her friends
Watch this space...
Vlooi's (that is Michele, for all you dodo's who still do not know) is an artist with a barnstorming approach to life. When her French/Dutch ancestry takes hold of her, she plummets through the walls of convention with regular monotony. (sometimes with no regard to spilling blood.)
She drives our B&B with all the aplomb of a frontier girl, she takes no shit from no one, and she handles money with such style that my eyes never stay in their sockets.
Go, girl...I did not marry you for your picture perfect looks, you know. The grip you have on the world makes it scream!
Me....
Vlooi's (that is Michele, for all you dodo's who still do not know) is an artist with a barnstorming approach to life. When her French/Dutch ancestry takes hold of her, she plummets through the walls of convention with regular monotony. (sometimes with no regard to spilling blood.)
She drives our B&B with all the aplomb of a frontier girl, she takes no shit from no one, and she handles money with such style that my eyes never stay in their sockets.
Go, girl...I did not marry you for your picture perfect looks, you know. The grip you have on the world makes it scream!
Me....
Spioenkop - an Acre of Massacre
Michele in a moment of reflection next to the graves on Spioenkop
My Blog List
Boer fighters from the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1903
With God and the Mauser