Skip to content

ABW - Battlefields of Colenso Mystery Cache

Hidden : 9/25/2007
Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

A mystery cache that will have you visiting 4 different sites along the famous battlefields route near the town of Colenso in Kwazulu Natal.

This cache will take you to a few of the battle fields memorials between Estcourt and Colenso. At these memorials you will need to pick up a few clues as to where the final hiding place of the cache will be. The hunt will take you to 4 different memorials. The first been at the site of an infamous train wreck. The second at the site of a bloody massacre. The third at the site of an old field hospital and a the fourth at a garden of remembrance. To start the hunt you need to go to the Churchill Monument found on the turnoff to Estcourt on the Colenso Road, co-ordinates are at: S 28° 52.412 E 29° 46.077 here you will need to get the date on the memorial: Captured by boer forces AA-BB-1899. Where AA = month and BB = day. The second part of the hunt takes you about 2 kilometers up the road towards Colenso from the Churchill memorial. Here you will see a sign for Bloukrans to the right. Follow this road for about 8 kilometers. The memorial is at the following co-ordinates: S 28° 51.035 E 29° 50.572 The bloukrans memorial is in memory of the families that were massacred in the night by the great Zulu Impi army of Dingaan. The attack came soon after the murder of Boer leader Piet Retief. It was a brutal attack leaving many hapless people dead, the most disturbing of which had been the number of children. The clue you will be looking for here is the number of people that had perished that fateful night. CC Men, DD Women, EEE Children. Now you will need to head back to the main road and again travel up towards Colenso. You will then see the sign for Chiveley. The co-ordinates are at: S 28° 50.013 E 29° 48.422 Here you will find a few memorial stones and graves of brave soldiers who had paid the ultimate price for their country during the second Anglo-Boer war. There was a field hospital at this site and many of the memorials are to the people who succumbed to their wounds. You will need to get a few clues here the first of which is the age of the son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts and his wife Nora who had died two days after been mortally wounded in an attempt to save the British guns at the battle of Colenso. He was aged FF years and GG months. The following clue is the number HHH next to the name Private D.E. Thomson who died of disease on the 30th April 1900. The next clue is the date that PTE Cray of the Devonshire Regt. Died, II-JJ-99. Once you have all these clues it is on to the final site for more clues. This final site is at the Clouston Garden of remembrance just a few kilometers up the road, the co-ordinates are at: S 28° 46.733 E 29° 48.600. Here you need to look for the grave of Lt. Colonel Charles Cecil Hayford Thorold, he died on KK Feb 1900, then you need the battalion numbers from the grave of Capt. A.H. Goldie – LL Batt. R.F.A. and of Luit. C.B. Schreiber – MM Batt. R.F.A. The next clue is on the stone that marks the spot where the remains of NN unknown British Gunners who without cover and ammunition spent, stood by their guns at the battle of Colenso. The next clue is the age of which Capt. Matthew Louis Hughes died at the battle of Colenso, OO Years. Now on to the final clue, the date on which troopers H Rainsford and C Boshoff drowned in the Tugela River, P April 1904. Now to get the final co-ordinate you need to do the following calculations: LL + BB = QQ AA + II = RR CC + P - 1 = SS NN*KK+OO-1 = TTT EEE + HHH +DD + FF – GG+MM=UUU OO + JJ + 4 = VV South = RR° SS.TTT East = QQ° VV.UUU

Click to verify coordinates

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Orgjrra Arjpnfgyr naq n ovt pebff.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)