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  1. #1
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    Default Mlamulankunzi, KaXoki , Somerset and iHhashi

    600 Miles, 10 Days, 1 Horse per rider.

    This epic 10-day ride from Durban to Grahamstown took them deep into the wilderness, crossing 120 rivers and covering 125 kilometres a day, was to get help for the British Garrison who were being besieged in their camp on the site where the Old Fort DURBAN stands today.
    It began on a bitterly cold winters night on the 24th of May 1842. “Mlamulankunzi” meaning The Peacemaker, who we now know as Dick King, and his trusted travel companion Ndongeni KaXoki, as well as his horse Somerset, embarked on a treacherous 950 km ride.Before daybreak the next morning, King was met by his 16-year-old servant Ndongeni, who brought two horses to the current Salisbury island in the bay. Attached to a boat, the tethered horses swam alongside the boat to the Bluff, from where King and Ndongeni escaped.

    From Port Natal (now Durban), King and Ndongeni started a heroic horseback ride to convey a request from Captain Smith for immediate reinforcements. The journey involved a ride of 960 kilometres (600 mi) through the wilderness and the fording of 120 rivers to arrive at Grahamstown. Ndongeni was forced to return halfway through the journey, as he had no saddle or bridle. Dick King reached Grahamstown 10 days after leaving Port Natal, a distance normally covered in 17 days. King returned a month after his escape on the Conch, one of the British vessels which carried the relief parties. It arrived at the bay on 24 June, and the reinforcements were in time to save Smith's garrison from imminent surrender or starvation.

    King so valued the assistance that he received from Ndongeni, and the important role that he played in the epic ride, that he campaigned for his fellow traveler to be recognised, and Ndongeni was eventually granted a farm by the Natal Government by way of thanks.

    Ndongeni received a farm at the Mzimkulu river and King a farm at Isipingo for their services. At Isipingo King managed a sugar mill until his death in 1871. Ethel Campbell conducted an interview with Ndongeni in 1911 from which she learned the details of the epic journey. A statue commemorating Dick King and his journey was unveiled on the north shore of Durban Bay on 14 August 1915.

    ( KaXoki - he had to return alone half way because he was Zulu entering Xhosa land and he was in danger because of that reason )
    live out your imagination , not your history.

  2. #2
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    Lightbulb Re: Mlamulankunzi, KaXoki , Somerset and iHhashi



    Jacqueline Kalley has a special interest in their lives as Dick King was her maternal great-great-grandfather, and his son lived the last two years of his 94-year-old life in her family home in Pietermaritzburg. Jacqueline Kalley has her PhD in Information Studies and for many years was Librarian at the South African Institute of International Affairs. Librarianship has given way to writing and publishing and she is the CEO of Otterley Press.

    http://www.theheritageportal.co.za/n...imes-dick-king

  3. #3
    Moderator KK20's Avatar
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    Default Re: Mlamulankunzi, KaXoki , Somerset and iHhashi

    It is a beautiful sculpture!
    live out your imagination , not your history.

  4. #4
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    Lightbulb Re: Mlamulankunzi, KaXoki , Somerset and iHhashi

    There is a little bit more to the name -- Zulu names always being very apt / descriptive / cogent
    Mlamula -- nkunzi

    Nkunzi being a Bull

    One needs to find and read all the Zulu proverbs

    Here is another one

    John Sydney Marwick was known locally as uMuhle, ‘the good one’.


    https://durbanhistorymuseums.org.za/marwicks-march/

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