“SUMPTUOUS LUNCH ” AT THE MATOPOS.
TEAM ENJOY TRIP TO VICTORIA FALLS. (Written for the “ Star ” by J. T. Burrows.”) JOHANNESBURG, July 19. The Johannesburg climate is behaving itself much better this time, than on our former visit. Then, although the days were sunny and cloudless, the nights were bitterly cold, and the sudden change was responsible for more than one attack of influenza. For some reason or other, the nights noware almsot warm, and the altitude too, seems to affect us less than formerly. Uncomfortable Trains. We are all of the one opinion that Jo’burg (or more appropriately Je tvburg) is the city we like least of all African cities. It is pleasant though to be here to enjoy a rest from travelling. If the last fortnight we have actually spent eight full days and seven nights on the train. Nor are the African trains as comfortable to travel in as the publicity people will tell you. Certainly we travel with three in a compartment that normally contains four, and there is nothing wrong with the bunks at night. But .so much soot and smoke comes in through the windows; and then the trains themselves are so slow. A good number we have travelled in are actualy slower than our New Zealand trains. There arc fast trains here, but so far, with the tour more than half finished, we have not travelled on one. Rumour hath It that there is a reason for it all, and says that the African Rugby Union is getting big concessions, half prices in fact, so long as the All Black team travels on slow trains. On short journeys it is not so bad, but it’s a bit thick when, owing to shuntings, etc., at various stations, we arrive three hours behind scheduled time. “ Late Again." This actually happened at Bulawayo. Instead of arriving at half past eight, we drew in at the station at half past eleven. I suppose it was even worse for the people waiting for us. We were to have had a break of seven hours in Bulawayo on our way to the Victoria Falls, but even with the shortened time, all plans for our entertainment were carried out. Rhodesia is a wonderful province. After travelling through hundreds of miles of veldt and worthless karroo, with its only vegetation a very occasional piece of scrub, it was a big relief to pass suddenly into a land where normal sized trees grew more or less thickly. Everything was certainly very dry—apparently Rhodesia is suffering from a three years’ drought at the present time—but the leaves had all our autumn tints. “Utterly English.”
Then it was a further relief to find a crowd waiting for us which was utterly and entirely English. Quite a quarter of the men were dressed in shorts, and nearly ail of them wore white helmets. Immediately we stepped off the train, we were bundled into motor-cars and after about another hour’s travelling, we arrived at the place where a sump tuous out door lunch was provided for us—at the Matopos. Here the tables were spread in the shadow of a rock mountain, the “ World's View,” at the top of which Cecil Rhodes lies buried. The trip there certainly was worth while. A twenty minutes’ climb took us to the top of the huge rock formed entirely of granite and there we
aw the grave of Rhodes. There is no uge memorial there as most of us ex ected to find, just a plain horizontal Lab with the inscription. “ Here lies be body of Cecil Rhodes.” It doesn’t ven say when he died. About twenty ards away is a similar slab, the grave
of Dr Jamieson. Our train left Bulawayo at half past five, and'next day at dinner time we arrived at the Falls Hotel. It would be rather a difficult task attempting to describe the Falls. “ Deep and Wide and Wet.” They are so noisy and deep and wide and wet.
Tourists are provided with oilskins and hats, and even then they can’t keep dry. We all changed into our football togs to pass through the. “ rain forest..” The water literally thunders into a comparatively narrow canyon, and spray like a thick cloud rises a great height, falling like rain in the “ rain forest.” While we were five miles away in the train, this white cloud was pointed out to us, though no water or falls were visible. I for one, was very surprised to learo that
the Victoria Falls arc twice as wide and two and a half times as deep as Niagara. They are four hundred feet deep and a mile and a quarter wide. The morning after we arrived, we all piied into a big motor launch and were taken for a trip up the Zambesi. Even those who found nothing to admire m the tropical vegetation found plenty to interest them in the crocodiles we saw. A BLg, Ugly Brute. The first one we passed was a big ugly brute, lying in the sun on the bank. Later we passed within fifteen yards of one even bigger, and there wa* much clicking of cameras until a wave disturbed the crocodile and it slipped quickly into the river. The Fails Hotel is right in the heat I of the big game area, but time did not permit of any shooting excursion*. Every day we saw dozens of baboons, some within a few hundred yards of the hotel. Our time there was not nearly long enough. W e nearly all wore football shorts and white shirts, were thoroughly sunburnt, and enjoyed uur short holiday to the full. Back in Bulawayo wc received another wonderful welcome, and found that the people there considered the team’s visit as the greatest event in it* history. We thought this a pretty extra vagant statement, especially as the Prince of Wales had been through, but the record crowd which congregated in the town proved it to be true. Tima before the mail closes, is too short for any description of the game, but it was a most delightful one to watch and tlie crowd appreciated it greatly.
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Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Issue 18547, 22 August 1928, Page 8
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1,026“SUMPTUOUS LUNCH ” AT THE MATOPOS. Star (Christchurch), Issue 18547, 22 August 1928, Page 8
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