Rorke's Drift Museum

About Rorke's Drift Museum

The Rorke's Drift Museum is a historic military site situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, approximately 46 kilometres southeast of the town of Dundee. The museum is located on the exact grounds of the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift, an Anglo-Zulu War conflict where an estimated 140 British soldiers successfully defended a Swedish mission station turned supply depot against an assault by approximately 4,000 Zulu warriors. Today, the main museum exhibits are housed inside a faithful reconstruction of the original thatched-roof hospital building that was burned down during the intense, close-quarters fighting. Visitors to the site can view life-size historical dioramas, authentic weapons, and electronic battle-map diagrams, while the surrounding grounds feature stone lines tracking the original defensive perimeter, a British military cemetery, the graves of Zulu warriors, and a dedicated memorial monument. The site is open daily to the public for an admission fee, and it sits directly adjacent to the ELC Art and Craft Centre, a prominent pottery and weaving workshop established in the 1960s.