Stop sign at the Zambia and Zimbabwe border bridge. The Victoria Falls Bridge is 100 years old in 2005.
Stop sign at the Zambia and Zimbabwe border bridge. The Victoria Falls Bridge is 100 years old in 2005. The Victoria Falls Bridge was the brainchild of Cecil Rhodes, a key feature in his dream of a Cape to Cairo railway, even though he never visited the Victoria Falls and died two years before the railway reached them - before construction of the Bridge had begun. The preliminary surveying of the ground for the bridge was made in 1900-01, during the time the Boer War was raging; communications southwards were cut, and the construction of the railway to Victoria Falls was much delayed, but never quite suspended, throughout military operations. The arena of the war did not include Rhodesia, and the work of railway construction never ceased throughout the whole period. In 1900 Rhodes was asked to write a forward for the book 'From Cape to Cairo' by Grogan and Sharp. Ewart Scott Grogan, together with Harry Sharp undertook the epic overland journey from the Cape to Cairo, although Grogan was the only one to complete the entire journey, and thus become the first man to achieve such an undertaking. They travelled by train, boat and other means where they could, but walked for much of their journey across the African continent. Inspired by reading Frederic Courtney Selous's 'A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa', Grogan set out to prove his worth and gain the hand of his love in marriage. Their journey took three years, Grogan reaching Cairo in 1900. Sir Charles Metcalfe, a close personal friend of Rhodes, followed his wishes and determined to locate the bridge just below the Falls. He carried out the preliminary examinations of the site in June 1901 before returning to Britain to raise funds for the project. In 2005 a major 100 year survey of the bridge was undertaken. Previous reports by officials from the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) had raised the danger posed by the bridge by heavy loads and it was closed to heavy traffic for over a year days to allow for emergency
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Photo credit: © Sergi Reboredo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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