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Kariba Dam: in Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi River, on the Zambia-Rhodesian border, built 1955–59. One of the world's largest dams, it is 128 mhigh and 579 m long. The Kariba project's generators supply electricity to the Copperbelt in Zambia and to parts of Rhodesia.
Kariba Lake: the vast reservoir created by the dam, extends 280 km and has a maximum width of 32 km. The creation of the lake forced resettlement of about 50,000 people living along the Zambezi. In 1960–61, Operation Noah captured and removed the animals threatened by the lake's rising waters.
Umtali: is the fourth largest city in Rhodesia, with a population of approximately 189,000. Founded in 1897 as a fort, it is located in the province of Manicaland 8 km from the border with Mozambique, and is just 290 kilometres from the port of Mozambican Beira, earning Umtali the title of "Rhodesia's Gateway to the Sea".
Sometimes also called "Gateway to the Eastern Highlands".
An border railway station on the railway line from Harare to Beira (Mozambique) with a railways mechanical work shops.
Plumtree: is a small town in Matabeleland, close to the border to Botswana. It is the local administrative center. The railway from Bulawayo to Francistown crosses the border near Plumtree.
"Zimbabwe Ruins" now "Great Zimbabwe": The primary ruins of this former city extend more than 60 acres (24 hectares) and include a hilltop fortress and walls of stone monoliths. The centre of a great inland empire ruled by the Karanga (Shona) people who traded on the shores of the Indian Ocean, Great Zimbabwe flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries. Portuguese explorers probably encountered the ruins in the 16th century, but it was not until the late 19th century that the existence of the ruins was confirmed, generating much archaeological research.
Salisbury:
Now called Harare, is the capital city of Rhodesia. It is Rhodesia'a largest city and its administrative, commercial, and communications centre. It is a trade centre for tobacco, maize, cotton, and citrus fruits.
Despite the renaming of the city, some suburbs have retained their European names, such as Warren Park 'D', Borrowdale, Mount Pleasant, Tynwald and Avondale.
Harare is famous for its beautiful jacaranda-lined streets, especially in the "Avenues" suburbs to the immediate north of the city centre.
Serowe:
is Botswana's largest village with a population of around 90.000. It is located in Botswana's Central District and is a trade and commerce center. It lies west of the Gaborone–Francistown road, from which it is easily reached. It has a memorial to Khama III, chief of the Bamangwato people in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is also the birthplace of Seretse Khama, Botswana's first President. Bent & Thordis lived here, where Bent was teaching at the Teachers Training College, which together with the hospital was the only places in town that had their own generator and therefore electricity.
Durban:
Durban is the busiest container port in Africa, the world's 9th busiest port, and a popular tourist destination. The Golden Mile, developed as a welcoming tourist destination in the 1970s, as well as Durban at large, provide ample tourist attractions, particularly for people on vacation from Johannesburg. It lost its holiday pre-eminence to Cape Town in the 1990s, but it remains a popular location. We visited Jens and Anthea in 1973 when Jens was working for East Asiatic Company.
Matopos Hills:
has beautiful scenery including some spectacular balancing rocks and impressive views along the Mpopoma river Valley, it is 35 km south of Bulawayo. The Hills were formed over 2000 million years ago with granite being forced to the surface, this has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Mzilikazi, founder of the Ndebele nation, gave the area its name, meaning 'Bald Heads'. This the home of the white rhinoceros (see wildlife photos).
Pendennis Castle: built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, was launched on 24 December 1957. She sailed on her maiden voyage to South Africa in January 1959, replacing the aged Arundel Castle. 763ft 2in long with a beam of 83ft 9in, her steam turbines gave her a service speed of 22.5 knots. With a GRT of 28 442 tons, she could carry 197 first class and 473 tourist class passengers. She very quickly gained a reputation as a "fun ship" as well as a fast one, breaking the Union-Castle record for the fastest passage between Cape Town and Southampton in 1969. Like all of her sisters she was in a rapidly shrinking market and in August 1976 was sold to the Panamanian based Ocean Navigation Company for conversion into the cruise ship Ocean Queen. This never happened and under the name Sinbad and Sinbad 1 she languished unused for years before sailing to the breakers in 1980.
LINKS TO PHOTO'S
Photos from Bulawayo
Here you will find photos from our time in Bulawayo.
Photos of Wildlife
Elephants and "tigers" which Mike saw a lot of and other wildlife that we encountered during our travels around Rhodesia.
Photos of Victoria Falls
The local Batonga people had known about Mosi-Oa-Tunya for many years, but it was after David Livingstone "discovered" them that people from all over the world travelled to Rhodesia to see the stunning attraction.
