View of gardens at Leopard Rock Hotel, Vumba, Rhodesia.

Happy days in paradise!

"Nowhere more beautiful in Africa" - Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother of Britain, when describing her visit to Leopard Rock in the Vumba Mountains of Rhodesia.

Leopard Rock in the Vumba

with the hotel nestling at its foot.

Click on pictures for a larger image and then again for an even bigger one!

Breakfast time at Leopard Rock Hotel,

Vumba, Rhodesia.

Rhodes Grave and Shangani Memorial, Matopos Hills, Rhodesia

Lowveld irrigation, Chiredzi,

S.E. Rhodesia.

A hot climb up the kopje even in the dry season!

(Note numerous baobabs centre left.)

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Conical Tower, Zimbabwe Ruins, Rhodesia

Jacarandas on Montagu Ave, Salisbury, 1977

(see here for the same location in 1932)

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Alouette 111s in the revetments at FAF8,

Grand Reef, near Umtali, 1977

Balancing rocks, Matopos Hills, Rhodesia

Bridal Veil Falls, Melsetter, Rhodesia

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Livingstone House from Salisbury Gardens

The Kyle Dam on the Mtilikwe River

which helps to irrigate the Lowveld

Mazoe Dam after good rains.

Constructed in 1919 and raised in 1961

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Rainbow over Mazoe Citrus Estate

Entrance to the Acropolis at Zimbabwe Ruins

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Bougainvillea and Jacaranda at Mazoe

Lunch at Birchenough Bridge

Baobab on the Beitbridge - Fort Victoria road 1974

(see here for the same location in the 1930s)

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Heading North for Salisbury,

next stop: Fort Vic.

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Looking East along Jameson Ave

from Livingstone House, Salisbury

Salisbury, capital of Rhodesia

from the air.

"This is the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation"

RBC / RTV Studios, Salisbury

Late afternoon view over coffee bushes to Leopard Rock taken from Eggardon Hill Farm in Rhodesia's Vumba Mountains

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Paradise Lost

View from Eggardon Hill, Vumba, Rhodesia

See why here

Garden at Eggardon Hill Farm, Vumba

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Grain silos at Concession in the heart of a prosperous farming area North of Salisbury.

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Umtali from Christmas Pass, 1976

(see here for the same view 50 years earlier)

Looking North from Livingstone House over Salisbury Gardens before the rains

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Crossing the Umvumvumvu River,

heading North for Umtali

The Kyle Dam from Murray MacDougall Drive, Mtilikwe Tribal Trust Land

Zimbabwe Ruins from the Acropolis showing the Temple Enclosure (left) in the Valley of Ruins

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Site author, Colin Weyer, at New Year's Gift Tea Estate, Tanganda, Rhodesia

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Cashel - Melsetter road, Chimanimani Mountains, Rhodesia

Finger Rock near the Morgenster Mission, Victoria District

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Fountains in Cecil Square, Salisbury

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On the "narrow tar"

Shamva - Bindura road

Approaching Birchenough Bridge.

The arch may just be seen in the centre glinting above the road. Note the young baobab tree on the right.

Mtarazi Falls (Rt) from Honde Valley, Rhodesia.

The river drops 2,499 feet (762 metres) being the 2nd highest

in Africa. (Mutaruru Falls to the left)

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Bubye River Bridge, Rhodesia 1975. A fine example of 50 years progress taken from the Lion & Elephant Motel. The old low level bridge is covered with debris after heavy rains.

Deadly Hazard awaiting the unwary just round the bend on the narrow tar between Banket and Raffingora.

The Hazard - only room for one car at a time over the low level bridge! Probably the Mukwadzi as that's the only river in the area marked as bridged. But it could be the Muneni or Ndondondo.

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The fly chamber near Makuti on the road between Karoi and Chirundu - a precaution against the tsetse fly which is still endemic in the Zambezi Valley.

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Salisbury, capital city of Rhodesia, from The Kopje - a much photographed view down the years

View from G Car out of FAF8

over Umtasa Mission, north of Umtali,

October 1977.

On top of the world

- well, Rhodesia anyway!

Mount Inyangani, 8504 ft (2592m)

Zimbabwe Ruins, Rhodesia 1976

The old strip road South of Fort Victoria, near the Zimbabwe Ruins; all weather roads at an economic price. This Rhodesian innovation, from the 1930s, led to the best road network in Africa at a time when even South Africa had only dirt and gravel roads.

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The Jack Quinton Bridge,

due East of Chiredzi, which spans the lower Sabi River; seen here during the dry season.

Rhodesian troopies in the operational area

relaxing between contacts in 1977.

Unprompted, and unwatched by the world's media, this was but one example of many which I could have photographed whilst on call ups, showing ordinary Rhodesians playing sport together for fun.

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Mount Inyangani, the highest point in Rhodesia, looking East towards the Moçambique border.

Kariba Dam, Zambezi River

April 1975

Fishing at Mazoe Dam.

The road to Bindura can be seen to the left.

Heading N.E. from Banket towards Mtoroshanga

showing typical Mashonaland scenery.

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Threatening rain: Makuti Motel at the top of the Zambezi Escarpment.

First Street, Salisbury, looking South.

Christmas 1974

First World living becoming a reality for Rhodesia's Third World population: typical African housing in Bulawayo.

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A favourite stop:

the fruit kiosk at the Mazoe Dam

Where it all started in 1890.

The Flagstaff, Cecil Square, Salisbury;

looking West along Gordon Ave.

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Centenary Park, Bulawayo

Rhodes statue on Main Street, Bulawayo

Maleme Dam, Rhodes Matopos National Park. 

The dams built all over Rhodesia have invariably improved on the beauty of nature.

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Canoeing to Remembrance Island

on the West side of Lake McIlwaine.

A distant view of Cross Kopje, Umtali.

The author at Cross Kopje, Umtali.

The cross was erected in 1924 in memory of the Africans of the Rhodesia Native Regiment who lost their lives in East Africa during the Great War.

A view of the 1978 Christmas decorations looking North along First Street, recently converted to a pedestrian mall, taken from the junction with Gordon Ave.

Melsetter Village Green

with the Pioneer Memorial in the centre.

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A Flame Lily, Rhodesia's national flower,

photographed at Inyangombe Falls earlier the same year.

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Pioneer Day ceremony Cecil Square, Salisbury 1976

First Street, Salisbury looking North to Jameson Ave. Southampton House, on the corner of Union Ave, in the foreground followed by the Beverley Building Society and the Reserve Bank beyond.

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Saint Mary & All Saints Cathedral, Salisbury.

Teviotdale Road looking North to Vainona in Salisbury.

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A junction in Inyanga National Park.

Heading East across Birchenough Bridge

Rhodesia v Natal, Gillette Cup semi-final, Police Ground, Salisbury, Jan 1977. Natal won and went on to win the final. But Rhodesia won the competition next year!

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Rhinos grazing in the Matopos.

View from Rhodes Hotel, Inyanga

Looking North over Greenside, Umtali

from Cross Kopje

Chimanimani Mountains

from the old Cashel - Melsetter road.

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Aerial view of Salisbury,

Rhodesia's capital city.

Mazoe Oranges almost ready for harvest

The little village of Inyanga nestling peacefully at the foot of the Inyanga Mountains.

Sabi River from Birchenough Bridge looking South at the end of the rainy season.  Imagine trying to cross this river before it was bridged!

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View into Moçambique from the top of Leopard Rock;

Chicamba Real Dam below the clouds.

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Umtali from above Christmas Pass

Swimming pool at Leopard Rock Hotel,

Vumba Mountains, Rhodesia.

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On the Victoria Falls - Bulawayo road,

heading North.

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Spray from the Victoria Falls

rising above the bush.

The Devils Cataract

at the western, or Rhodesian, end of the Victoria Falls

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David Livingstone's statue, which was erected in 1934, looks out along the Victoria Falls as shown in the next photo.

The Victoria Falls are a mile wide and at this point the river is flowing almost due South. So this is the view from the western end which is on the southern bank of the Zambezi.

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Victoria Falls, Rhodesia. 

The falls are over a mile wide

(5,604ft or 1 708m) and

the average height is 360ft or 108m,

so this photo shows but a small section!