Rorke’s Drift is the site of the most famous battle of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1979 and lies around 30 miles southeast of Dundee. The countryside around Rorke’s Drift is unspoilt and tranquil. Irishman James Rorke had originally set up a trading station about 1 mile from the drift (crossing point) of the Buffalo River and was known to the Zulus as KwaJimu (Jim’s place). Reverard Otto Witt of the Swedish Missionary Society later establish a mission station at Rorke’s Drift. Under the shadow the the rocky mountain he named Oskarberg, he built a small church, mission house and cattle kraal.

The mission station had been ‘requisitioned’ by Lord Chelmsford. The house was used as a hospital and the chapel was used as a storehouse. During the battle it was used as a surgery. The defence of the mission station of Rorke’s Drift immediately followed the British Army’s defeat at the Battle of Isandlwana earlier that morning on 22^nd January 1879. Despite an almost overwhelming onslaught by the Zulus, the British garrison at Rorke’s Drift held out and has gone down as one of the finest military defences in history. The 11 Victoria Crosses awarded for valour at Rorke’s Drift are still more than for any other military action in history.

Lord Chelmsford’s forces invaded Zululand on 11th January 1879 and his central column encamped under the mountain at Isandlwana. Three columns invaded Zululand, from the Lower Tugela, Rorke’s Drift and Utrecht respectively, their objective being Ulundi, the Royal capital of the Zulus. On 9 January 1879 the centre column under Lord Chelmsford arrived and encamped at Rorke’s Drift.

On the morning of 22^nd January 1879, the main Zulu army attacked the British camp at Isandlwana. Lord Chelmsford had taken part of his force off in another direction in search of the Zulu army. Hopelessly outnumbered, the British and native forces were slaughtered by the Zulus which saw only around 50 men escape with their lives. The rest of the 1,000+ strong force were killed. After Isandlwana, Dabulamanzi led 4,500 Zulus to attack the small garrison at Rorke’s Drift. These Zulus had missed out on the action at Isandlwana and wanted to prove themselves in battle. The Buffalo River formed the border between Zululand and Natal and King Cetshwayo had ordered his warriors not to venture into Natal. Despite their King’s order, the Zulus took rilfes from the British dead and headed to Rorke’s Drift. 36 of the men at the mission station were in the hospital. There were just 97 fit solders, 14 natives, 5 officers and 2 lieutenants, one of which was new to the area. Isandlwana was a humiliating defeat for the British but just hours later at Rorke’s Drift, 139 men successfully defender the mission station against an attack by 4,500 Zulus.

Rorke’s Drift could easily have ended up in the same disastrous manner as Isandlwana. However, Rorke’s Drift was a supply depot which meant the defenders had a huge supply of ammunition. Over 20,000 rounds were fired by the British at Rorke’s Drift which meany only every 50th shot resulted in an outright kill. Knowing the Zulus were coming, the British chose to stand and fight. Wounded men would had to have been loaded onto wagons and Zulu warriors would easily have caught them in the open. They decided to fight on ground of their choosing.

On top of having numbers that crushed a force five times that size hours before, the Zulus now had the Martini-Henry rifles taken off the British dead, giving them an even larger edge against the British.

Henry Hook and five other privates were ordered on the afternoon of 22nd January to protect approximately 30 patients unable to be moved from the temporary hospital at Rorke’s Drift station. Lines of defence were built to join the store room with the hospital. An inner defensive line was built between the hospital and store room and this proved crucial as the battle of Rorke’s Drift unfolded. The hospital was the first building to be attacked by the Zulus who set fire the to roof. Private Hook and the others fought for hours, digging their way through the inner walls from room to room and eventually escaping the burning building. Wave after wave of warriors with spears and rifles crashed against the makeshift defences at Rorke’s Drift. The British defences held strong as battles raged throughout the night and by morning, the Zulus eventually withdrew.

The massacre at Isandlwana had convinced Lord Chelmsford that Rorke’s Drift had suffered a similar fate. 11 Victoria Crosses were awarded to the men who held out at Rorke’s Drift. CSM Frank Bourne was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the rare honour of a commission. However, his army pay was his only money had he felt he couldn’t not financially afford to become an officer so declined the commission. Fittingly, he was the last survivor of Rorke’s Drift to pass away on 8^th May 1945 – VE Day. Lt-Col Frank Bourne OBE DCM was 91 years old.

If you plan to visit Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana, you will get the most from your visit by staying at Fugitives Drift and taking a tour with one of their team of lecturers lead by the excellent Rob Caskie. David Rattray was the pioneer of Anglo-Zulu War tourism and was the master of reciting the tales of the battles until his untimely death. Since then, Rob Caskie has stepped into his shoes and he brings the battlefields to life reciting stories of how the 11 men won their VCs at Rorke’s Drift. The accommodation at Fugitives Drift is also first class and with all the memorabilia in the lounge at the property, there is no better place to stay.

The men who tried to save the Queens Colours from Isandlwana are bured at Fugitives Drift. 2 nights would allow you to have time to see the graves of Lieutenants Melville and Coghill as well as visiting Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana in the order the battles happened.

You can book your trip to Rorke’s Drift with Explorer Travel by calling 0208 816 8789 or sending and enquiry via their website (http://www.big5.explorertravel.co.uk/BattlefieldsSouthAfrica.htm)

Greece doesn’t need any introduction, when it comes to talking about its part in the worldwide tourism.  The nation’s never-ending ancient history and its untouched natural landscape, provide with the needed pull for drawing in millions of visitors to its soil every year.  But , the tale doesn’t stop there, and the recent trends might say, even the Greece property market was going to experience a major boom because of the larger passion being shown by the foreign buyers.  Greece property provides the buyers with a choice to buy holiday houses, villas and lofts over a good range of tourist places.  These places are scattered allover its mainland, the coastal area and several of its well-known islands.  Least to say, these are well developed urbanized areas with the air links and sea routes arriving in from and leading out to the entire globe. 

There is no absolute answer as to why this latest upsurge could have taken place in the Greek property market, but the analysts attribute 2 major geopolitical events for this transformation.  The 1st one was the acceptance of Greece into the EU Union in 1981, and the second one, the return of olympic games in Athens in 2004.  Both events proved critical in helping out the Greek tourism and its property market to revive themselves in the eyes of the global community.  A whole lot of new construction was undertaken in the Olympic Games campaign, which subsequently became the selling ground for the Greek property. 

From what we understand about today’s Grecian real estate, it is tough to get a low-cost single family house in Athens, where the demand to supply ratio for such units is much higher compared to the other regions of the country.  This leaves out the buyers with a choice to buy lofts in Athens, which are less difficult to locate in the Greece property since the 2004 olympic games ended here.  At the same time, people can buy luxury villas in the resort towns as an investment option or to have extended holidays there. 

Buyers eye the busy profits nowadays, when deciding to speculate in the villas or farm lands across the Greek countryside.  Villas can be sold to other buyers at a handsome premium later.  On the other hand, many villa owners lend their properties to holidaymakers, who flock in giant numbers after each winter season.  So, the market for Greece property provides with an excellent investment value to all of those who could be ready to cash in from its buoyant trend. 

anybody who might be looking to own a Greece property will have to fulfill certain conditions before doing so.  These are, having a Greek deposit account, being enrolled as a tax payer in Greece and getting a prior authorization to buy properties in specific areas.  The permission to buy properties can be had from the chief administrative or judicial officer in the area of doubt.  It also should be noted down that, those hailing from the western european Union should easily be in a position to own properties in their names, in comparison to those from the non-EU nations.

Journey around the world by visiting famouswonders.com and while you’re at it, also check out Island of Delos.

Applying for a New U.S. Passport for the first time can be very confusing. Don’t worry though, because it’s perfectly fine to feel that way. After all, you need to deal with a lot of things for the first time, fill in forms, and submit documents. The truth is that applying for passports doesn’t have to be confusing or even stressful. We’ll show you in the following paragraphs how you can easily apply for one minus the confusion and the hassle.

First of all, you need to be familiar with the different forms used when applying for passports. There are forms used when you’re applying for the first time, others are used when renewing it, and there are those that one fills in when they’ve lost their passport. But for the purposes of this article, let’s just focus on what you need for now.

Since you’re a first time passport applicant, you’ll need to fill in the DS-11 form. This is the form used by people who never had passports before. The good thing is that you can already download this form at the US Department of State’s website. You have the choice of filling the form in on your computer then printing it out, or you could also print out the form first then fill it in later by hand. What’s important here is the convenience it gives you. You no longer need to go to the passport office to get this form.

Once your form is complete along with the necessary documents, you’ll need to submit it for processing. For passport processing, you can choose to either have it go through routine processing, or have it expedited. Routine processing will generally be fine if you don’t need your passport to travel in the next ten weeks, as routine processing generally takes four to six weeks to complete.

An expedited passport is what you need if you need to travel within four weeks. Expedited passports are given priority over those that go through routine processing. Because of this, expedited passports are processed a lot faster.

In the case of an expedited New Passport, they are usually processed within two to three weeks and is thus the choice of travelers who need to have their passports quickly.  If you need to travel within that period, getting an expedited passport is an obvious choice.

Just take note that because expedited passports are given priority over routine ones, you will have to pay a little extra for that kind of service. It isn’t that pricey, and it’s actually money well spent if you really need to travel outside of the country quickly, yet do not have the passport to do so. If your passport can’t wait, have your application expedited.

Let’s wrap things up here. You have to choices when it comes to applying for a First Time American Passport. You can either take the routine processing path, or choose to have the process sped up with the expedited passport processing. Both options have their pros and cons, but if you’re after speed and convenience, then the expedited route is the obvious choice.