and we decided to do without a refrigerator, as the gas supply (bottled) would be turned off on the run.
An ice-chest, a shovel, folding stools and table (virtually all daylight meals were taken out of doors), fly spray, spare wheel and jack for the caravan were well-used extras. The collapsible awning which we were too lazy to take we regretted only once, during the three-day stop at the Victoria Falls. At £10 10s. a week plus £1 3s. for a 2Olb. gas cylinder the van did us well. Where did we park? With small children and a desire for a good wash for ourselves every night we decided against stopping Out in the "bundu". Remember, too, that bathing or washing in all but fast-flowing mountain streams is unwise, lakes and rivers in this part of Africa are bilharzia-riclden. In some areas, farms are plentiful but only rarely are the farmhouses near the main roads. Though in most cases we were sure we would have been welcome, we generally baulked at either unhitching the van or driving with it up a rough twisty farm track for a mile or two with the chance of a "no" at the end.
What other choice was there ? In some cases, grounds of friends' houses, gardens are more spacious in Africa. Easter, for instance, found us close in to the centre of Salisbury, a city with over 250,000 people. Helpful hotels or motels where we hired a pitch and the use of bathroom and lavatory for 10s. or so a night were another answer. Only once did we come across a distinctly hostile motel to whom we were "unfair competition." Best of all, however, were the official (municipal or government) sites, Zimbabwe, Umtali , Victoria Falls, Matopo Hills (Bulawayo) in particular.
There are rough grass surfaces, reasonably short and level with trees left here and there, and, in the case of the Matopos, round the edge of the Maleme Dam lake. Baths and showers with running hot and cold water and flush lavatories in central blocks; water taps at several points and plenty of firewood for use on the rough hearths out in the open, all for 2s. or so per adult per night. Not one of them was crowded, partly perhaps because we were a little early, the six-month long rainy season was only just ending. The occasional showers kept us cool, however, and kept the dust down, though once or twice we had some difficult patches of "dirt" road, by "dirt" I mean the many kinds of earth or gravel surface.

The National roads in South Africa (say, from Johannesburg to Beit Bridge at the border) are broad, 20ft. of tar with wide, useful "dirt" shoulders. The Rhodesian main roads are getting that way but much has yet to be done. On these, speeds of 50 m.p.h. are safe, easy and necessary, if one is to cover the distances. Good broad "dirt" roads like that from Lusaka in Livingstone (half of it also tarred) gave the same reliable service.
Between Beit Bridge and Fort Victoria we had the worst of all, the good old Rhodesian strips-twin tarred strips 2ft. wide designed for the two wheel tracks. The van wheels were a little wider apart so the driver had to concentrate hard to keep the inside edge of the right-hand strip between his or her legs, an old and gratefully used tip.
The early contractors are, no doubt libellously , reputed to have taken advantage of payment per mile completed, hence the winding and twisting nature of their roads.
Narrow 9ft. tar strips or "dirt" made up the rest, with the inevitable deviations across the open "bundu", where road works were in progress. Generally, however, there were reasonable surfaces and reasonable standards of maintenance, though we were glad to have had plenty of practice without the van before venturing forth.

the scene of desolation of eroded rocks sticking up grotesquely among the green vegetation which one sees from the thought-provoking World's View site of Cecil Rhodes's grave in the Matopos, and the peace of the series of dammed lakes among the hills below; the glorious size of the scenery in the Drakensberg and, last of all, the colourful life of the Swazis culminating in the market in Mbabane, with its exotic fruits and veget­ables, brilliant splashes of the clothes and the grass mats, wooden bowls and implements, bright heads and handicrafts in the background, these were the highlights that come back most quickly to mind.