 When Coillard reached Cape Town on 6 November 1857, it was the eve of a war between Basutoland and the Boer republic of the Orange Free State; during the war, the French mission stations in Basutoland were destroyed.Coillard’s first task was to open a new station at Leribe.On 26 February 1861 he married Christina Mackintosh in Cape Town, South Africa.