WHERE HISTORY COMES ALIVE

IN SOUTH AFRICA, HISTORY LEAPS OFF THE PAGE AND ONTO THE BATTLEFIELD, WHERE GROUPS SUCH AS THE DUNDEE DIEHARDS RELIVE ANGLO-ZULU WAR CLASHES, REENACTING COMBAT AND TURNING CONTESTED HISTORY INTO SHARED EXPERIENCES, THUS OPENING THE DOORS FOR A NEW WAVE OF HERITAGE TOURISM.

- By Paula Slier

On a chilly morning in Dundee, a town in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, smoke drifts across the hillside as musket shots crack and Zulu war cries pierce the air-a battle fought more than a century ago, replayed in the present.

South Africa’s history has always been contested ground, but today, the battles aren’t only fought in the pages of books or in parliament. Increasingly, they are being replayed-quite literally-by men and women in armor, uniforms and replica weapons who gather on weekends to recreate the conflicts of the past.

From the windswept plains of KwaZulu-Natal to the urban parks of Johannesburg and Cape Town, historical reenactment is finding a surprising new foothold.

One of the best-known groups is the Dundee Diehards, who have been staging Anglo-Zulu War battles for years. Their events include the famous clashes at Isandlwana and Talana (battles fought in southern Africa in the late 19th century), recreated with painstaking attention to detail.

Members sew their own uniforms, handcraft spears, and study the drills of 19th-century British regiments and Zulu warriors. For them, accuracy is everything. Visitors aren't just watching a performance-they're experiencing living history, complete with musket fire, war cries, and the kind of spectacle no textbook can provide.

Cape Town, by contrast, is home to a growing number of Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) groups and medieval combat teams. Here, enthusiasts train with long-swords, shields, and full suits of armor. Some clubs reconstruct techniques from centuries-old fencing manuals, while others embrace full-contact combat under international rules. South Africa even sends teams to global medieval combat tournaments, competing against countries from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

What unites these different expressions is a belief that history comes alive most vividly through physical experience.