From the very beginning of the formal establishment of Dundee in 1882, the town was remarkable for the calibre of its inhabitants. Perhaps none more so than a young doctor and a young surveyor, who set off in 1884 for the unexplored “sea of land – land of water”.
The initiative was their own – without sponsorship from Government, the Royal Missionary Societies or the Royal Navy - they made and paid their own way. They were Dr Aurel Schulz MD and Mr August Hammar CE.
Over a hundred years later, the land that Schultz and Hammar traversed on foot, remains a land of adventure. They discovered this world in all its pristine glory.
Rumours of this magical world must have filled Hammar’s first years in Africa. He landed in 1879 and was sent to Rorkes Drift to map the frontier farms along the Buffalo river. He watched the battle of Isandlwana, from the heights of the Oscarberg. Unable to escape due to the approaching Zulu impi, that night he lay concealed on the hillside, watching the burning flames of the hospital building and hearing the frightful sounds of the battle below him. Signing on with Baker’s horse he fought throughout the rest of the campaign until after the battle at Ulundi when he returned to the burnt remains of the mission station to pick up the threads of his career. Round the campfires and talking to locals and passing adventurers, he heard many tales of grand adventure.
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