Sonny Brooks has kindly sent in another reminiscence. The first road towards the Victoria Falls was the "Panda ma Tenga Road", it was a traders track, pioneered before the occupation and it became the boundary line between the Bechuana Protectorate and Rhodesia. It ran directly towards the Falls but likely didn't go the whole way. There possibly is still a boundary track. The road to the Falls in 1928 was mostly a grader track used by hardy motorists from South Africa encouraged by the new Beit Bridge. This was the route we took that year on Assize Duty. It started with the road from Bulawayo to the Lonely Mine and the native Commissioners Office at Inyati. The road was made with a very coarse gravel, so with the long stroke motor engines of those years meant corrugations and big ones! One bounced along the road with gravel flying in all directions. It was the end of July when we ventured forth calling in on native trading stores along the way and ended up at the Lonely Mine Boarding House at 4 pm to stay the night. With a bit of time on my hands I climbed a small kopje near by. The view from the top was of the mine compound and a large barren area with a running water tap in the middle. I expect that the tap had not been repaired since installation with pumps emptying the mine it mattered not to waste water. Down a slight slope away from the tap there was a large patch of wet ground over which grew a full acre, a carpet of sky blue convolvulus in full cover. A bit of heaven in a vast area of desolation. Next morning with an early start, we took a winding track through the teak forests on the way to Dett railway siding on the Falls railway. It was a long day with heavy sand and a couple of punctures. Punctures were a normal thing in those days. It meant taking off the tyre with tyre levers, removing the tube, solution, patch, putting it back on and then pumping with much sweat with a crude hand pump. No one to this day has made an efficient hand pump! If you didn't pinch the tube putting it back together again one was on the way again. We made Dett and after a bit of scale testing made for Mrs Van Niekerk's Hotel. A pleasure as it was one of the best run pubs in the country as was Mrs Van's cooking. Oh what bread! The next days section of the road was over a sand veld track to the Gwaai River drift and then on to Wankie through shale covered hills. On this section the main leaf of the left front spring broke. This entailed cutting a block of wood and wiring it between the chassis and the cross member holding the axles. Then thump, thump, thump over the stony road to Wankie that seemed endless. We spent 2 days in Wankie testing the weights and measures of the traders there. The mine workshop made us a new leaf for the spring. Wankie hotel was on the lee side of the washery and coke ovens so the prevailing winds wafted a fine dust on to the verandah so nothing could be kept clean and the water pipes had a thumping noise when ever a tap was turned on, otherwise it was comfortable and well run. Wankie Thompson was the general manager of the mine in those days and his house was on the hill above the hotel. Mrs Thompson must have had a real problem keeping her house clean. Wankie done, we left on the last section of the road. It was the only section that had any pretensions to be made up as it had been taken over from the railways. The line had been changed to a new route, so the old section made a good gravel road with a level run and what a pleasure. The Falls in those days were unspoilt, everything was still in its natural state. The hotel with its beautiful view across to the Bridge was five star accommodation for 30/- all found per day. The annex 22/6 a wood and iron section. I went every year for 10 years after that first venture usually by train. I often wonder if people notice the two beautiful trees in front of the hotel; view steals the gaze. They are a type of msasa. Our trip was one of many over ten years to all corners of Southern Rhodesia. The old Buick was changed for a Ford V8 as time passed. With many friends around the country, it was a happy time.