By Burzil Dube
WHOEVER coined the phrase “time flies” deserves an accolade of some sort and indeed it is now two years since this column came into being with titbits on all forms of travelling and touring related issues as Yours Truly seeks to promote the country’s tourism industry.
It seems as if it was only yesterday when in a pioneer piece for this column, Yours Truly explained how he had to slumber atop a tree, which in itself was specifically designed for leisure and pastime activities.
This favourite and popular tourist place is better known as Tree Lodge at Sikumi situated on periphery of the iconic Hwange National Park.
During the course of the second anniversary more tourism related issues were tackled such as state of the country’s major highways whose status seemed beyond redemption and also a hindrance to the travelling public.
Some roads that were extensively covered by Yours Truly include the Dete-Binga highway have proven to be a tourism anathema especially to the latter and is in intensive care in terms of maintainance.
Numerous articles have been written and reported by various media houses on the poor state of this particular road, which has potential of providing a shorter distance between Victoria Falls and the resort town of Kariba, which is another tourist attraction town.
Despite the lackadaisical approach to the rehabilitation of this highway, Yours Truly will continue pushing for more effort because Binga is another Victoria Falls in the making in terms of tourism.
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This column has in the past implored powers that be to identify peculiar sites that might have played a pivotal role in the country’s war of liberation such as Gonakudzingwa and Sikombela detention centres among others.
Gonakudzingwa is a place where luminaries such as the late vice-president, Joshua Nkomo, Josiah Chinamano and others were banished during the liberation struggle while Sikombela housed the likes of the late Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe among others.
Such places play a role in the country’s historical tourism and other related facets just as does South Africa’s Robben Island where that country’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in the former penal colony.
The famous Battle of Chinhoyi site was extensively written about in this column during the year under review as this military engagement on April 28, 1966 marked the onset of a gruelling liberation struggle. such places are ideal for historical tourism. The place is situated adjacent to the Chinhoyi provincial heroes acre, another ideal place for local tourism especially school and tertiary touring groups.
As if this was not enough, this column stirred a hornet’s nest when it reported extensively that the Lemba/ Va Remba tribe were the brains behind architectural designing as well as construction of the world famous Great Zimbabwe Ruins situated at the outskirts of Masvingo city.
The Lemba, who trace their genealogy from the biblical Twelve Tribes, hence their claim of Jewish origin whose construction prowess, is traced to ancient sites in Sana, Yemen in the Middle East.
Despite the controversy surrounding this topical subject, no one has come forward with valid facts to the contrary, so Yours Truly will continue churning out tidings concerning this hallowed tribe, which later migrated from the Middle East via east Africa into Zimbabwe while others proceeded to South Africa.
Still on the issue of genealogy, Yours Truly has been inundated with requests from readers to delve more into Zimbabwe’s various tribes. Something similar to what has been previously written in this column such as Tonga, Nambya and of late Lemba clans as part of historical tourism.
As a “listening” writer whose veins and arteries are always full of ink, Yours Truly will certainly follow reader’s wishes to the proverbial book whose feed back is the basis of this column and tourism in general.
The first port of call is revisiting yesteryear Nambya, Tonga and Dombe way of life which might seem to be interelated if not intertwined even though some form of debate has been sporadically raging on who’s who in terms of prior settlement on this part of the country.
However, at the end of the day it would be just a proverbial storm in a tea cup.
Till we meet again in the next column.
- Comments always welcome on: dubebasill@gmail.com or Twitter@DubeBurzil
