Battle of Isandlwana

A cairn of whitewashed stones marking a British burial site below Isandlwana hill in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. On January 22, 1879, the main Zulu army of some 20,000 to 25,000 men, led by Ntshingwayo and Mavumengwana, overran the British camp pitched at the foot of this hill. It was a disastrous defeat for the British Army. Many cairns like this one dot the slope, and walking among them shows how exposed the camp was, spread across open ground with the hill at its back.