impessa

Updated: July 5, 2025

The Matabele never knew when Impessa was coming, and the Boers could never lie down to sleep with the assurance that they would not be awakened by the rattle of British musketry and the dread "Reveillé" of cold steel. Here is one instance.

Harold Begbie - The Story of Baden-Powell: 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps'

The Matabele, of whom we shall speak later on, soon got to distinguish Baden-Powell from the rest of Sir Frederick Carrington's troops in 1896. They christened him "Impessa" then, and to this day he is spoken of by the Kaffirs with awe and admiration as the "Wolf that never Sleeps."

Harold Begbie - The Story of Baden-Powell: 'The Wolf That Never Sleeps'