After reaching the fords, Nomahlanjana tried to force a passage but failed. By nightfall, the receding waters permitted crossings anywhere, and reinforcements swelled Nomahlanjana’s ranks to more than three times the Zulu numbers. With daybreak, the Ndwandwes poured across the White Umfolozi River and saw a herd of cattle being driven over a hill seven miles away. Their commander assumed the entire Zulu herd was being rushed to safety and sent 4,000 warriors racing after it. He formed the remaining 8,000 in a semicircle on the northeastern base of the Qokli Hill.

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Seeing only about 1,500 Zulus defending the height, Nomahlanjana ordered an assault, then seated himself beneath a mimosa tree near the base of the hill and drank calabashes of beer. As the Ndwandwes marched up the hill, they compressed their formations. Shaka ordered his first two lines to attack the closely packed enemy warriors, who did not have room to throw an assegai. The Zulus slashed into the helpless foe, and after 10 minutes of slaughter Nomahlanjana ordered a withdrawal. He then had half his army remain at the foot of the hill, while the other half assaulted upward with wide intervals between the formations and ample space between the warriors. They closed and started hurling their assegais. When the Ndwandwes in the first and second lines had only one spear left, Shaka launched his first two lines. Within five minutes they had killed or mortally wounded the entire first line of the Ndwandwes. Once again Nomahlanjana withdrew all his forces off the hill.

For the next attack, Nomahlanjana ordered his first line of fresh warriors to rush forward with spears in hand, while those in the second line threw their spears at any Zulu battling in the first rank. Shaka foiled that plan by ordering an assault as soon as the attackers came within spear’s throw. That charge drove the enemy’s first two lines into the third, where the jammed warriors had no room to cast a spear, while the Zulus’ stabbing iklwas wrought great carnage. For the third time, Nomahlanjana withdrew his forces down the hill. After a fourth attack failed, Nomahlanjana ordered his warriors to fight only briefly, then simulate flight and, upon reaching the bottom of the hill, turn and fling themselves upon the pursuing Zulus. Following orders, the Ndwandwes soon were fleeing downhill, their shields covering their backs. Many of Shaka’s over-eager warriors dashed after them, inflicting fearful slaughter. Upon reaching the base of the hill, however, they realized their danger and ran back up, still keeping their formations. Soon the pursuing Ndwandwes confronted solid Zulu lines in their original positions, clashed for a few frustrating minutes, then fell back.

Now the heat of the day reached its peak. Although the Zulus had plenty of water, more and more Ndwandwes began departing to quench their thirst.

Only two lines of Zulus now remained on the hill, a mere 600 men, many of them wounded. Soon a 200-yard-long column of warriors, 70 ranks of 20 men abreast, with 7 feet between ranks, streamed uphill toward where Shaka sat. It was a simple battering-ram tactic, designed to break the Zulu lines by sheer brute force. Wanting to be in at the final kill, Nomahlanjana and his four brothers joined the tail end of the column.

Shaka now decided to commit his hidden reserves, for smoke signals warned of the return of the enemy force that had captured his cattle herd. He placed 500 reserve warriors as a ‘chest’ right in the path of the attacking column and sent the other 1,500 dashing downhill in two enveloping horns. After those horns clamped shut behind the enemy column, broad Zulu blades drained the blood of all within, including Nomahlanjana and four of his brothers, at the cost of only 500 Zulus.

Shaka immediately sent 1,000 of his surviving warriors to seek out and slay the enemy who had drifted off in search of water, and then join him at the Bulawayo kraal for a final stand. He next formed his remaining two lines into a chest and two horns to deal with the Ndwandwes still encircling the base of the hill. The Ndwandwe leader, once informed of the loss of his chief and the attacking column, ordered a retreat and, despite grievous losses, succeeded in joining up with the returning regiments that had captured the token Zulu cattle herd.

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