From 1890 to 1980 the last outpost of the British Empire clung to the illusion that the white man could rule into perpetuity a majority of blacks in simmering and visceral opposition. Four separate wars were fought during that period, the last being the defining liberation struggle of the 1970s that brought the rebel state of Rhodesia to heel, and brought the curtain down forever on the great Anglo/Saxon union of the British Empire.

The story of Rhodesia, and its transition into Zimbabwe, is one of the defining tales of the British Empire. A small, landlocked colony took the decision in 1965 to declare independence from the Crown, only the second since the USA to do this. The belief that the English speaking values transplanted by the founding fathers on the soil of Africa could not sustain the burden of indigenous black rule. This belief persisted, and by the dawn of the 1870s some 300 000 whites, pitted against a majority population of several million blacks, found themselves fighting a bitter war of survival. In the long annals of southern African militaria no event captured the shoddy brilliance of the last stand of white supremacy in an egalitarian world better than the guts and glory of the Rhodesian War.

Zimbabwe is an excellent travel destination with every aspect about it of the Africa of yore as well as the gritty modern reality of struggle in a rough neighborhood. Be it the Matabele War, the Matabele and Mashona Rebellions, or the Rhodesian guerrilla war itself, the country is rich with drama and history, but also filled with warmth, humour, and blessed with a magnificent natural heritage that cannot be equalled anywhere on the continent.

Join me on a tour of Zimbabwe, be it in combination with other countries in the region, or as a dedicated study of one of the most interesting and perplexing countries of Africa. Email me for details on times, dates and prices.

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