On 22 January 1879, British forces suffered one of their worst defeats at the hands of a 20,000 strong Zulu army.
Despite obvious technological advantages the British were poorly led and a number of basic errors were made including not properly securing the camp.
Consequently the outcome was probably never in doubt. Over 1,300 British troops were killed while the Zulu army lost about 1,000 men.

The Isandlwana battle site today is rich in atmosphere, particularly in the lush colours of summer (when the battle took place).
The bodies were only buried a number of months after the battle, and white stone cairns mark the places where the bones were buried:
The more bones that were found, the more stones were used in the cairns.
Interestingly, when the British found the bodies of their fellow soldiers they were outraged that they had been disembowelled by the Zulus.
However in Zulu culture at that time, the Zulus disembowelled the bodies in order to remove the Gall Bladder so that the spirit of that warrior would be set free.

If you are visiting you will get much more out of the experience by using a guide to bring the scene strongly into focus.
I strongly recommend using a Zulu Guide from Rorke's drift, so that one might see the battle from the Zulu perspective rather than the traditional Western one.