Dick King

‘Dick King rode this way’ – Port Shepstone.

© Chris Marais

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The route of South Africa’s most famous long-distance horse journey would take you through half of the modern-day provinces of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and the Eastern Cape.

And you’d probably do it very comfortably in 2 days, with a pleasant stop in, say, Port St Johns, overnight.

However, the epic ride of Dick King – covering more than 950km in 10 days – took the Natal frontiersman through some of the wildest parts of South Africa in May and June 1842.

What is now the sunny South Coast of KZN – complete with beaches, restaurants, golf courses and surf spots – was a hardly charted series of rivers full of crocodiles, thickets full of predators and a Zulu nation not predisposed to colonists at the time.

But British forces at Port Natal (Durban) were besieged by Boers and King was commissioned – along with his 16-year-old servant, known as Ndongeni – to ride south to the British garrison at Grahamstown so a relief party could be organised.

By the 5th day, Ndongeni – who had ridden without stirrups – was exhausted and took refuge in a mission station in Pondoland before returning to Natal.

King rode on through the Eastern Cape and finally arrived in Grahamstown in shocking physical condition. While being questioned about conditions at Port Natal, he fell asleep from exhaustion.

British forces were dispatched by sea to Port Natal, and 1 month later King arrived on board the HMS Conch.

The man known as the ‘saviour of Natal’ was given some cash and a farm at Isipingo, where he managed a sugar mill until his death in 1871.

King, who had nearly perished crossing more than 100 rivers and being attacked by both Boers and Zulus en route, was self-effacing about it all while being interviewed by an adoring Natal press: ‘What is there to tell? I did no more than any Englishman would do for his country. I said I would get the message through, and I did it, and that's all there is to say ...’