Rhodesia Philately: 1969 Bridges of Rhodesia

In Rhodesia’s early days money and. building materials were scarce and travellers whose means of transport was the coach and ox waggon had to be content with crossing rivers at their narrowest and shallowest points, all very well in the dry months of the year, but practically impossible during the rainy season when meandering river beds turned into raging torrents overnight and became impassable and dangerous for many weeks.

After the war of 1914-1918, the value of the internal combustion engine having been proved, the lorry became a prominent form of transport, able to penetrate the parts of the country away from the line of rail. People, too, began to prefer to take journeys by motor car rather than by train. The lorry and the car however required durable roads and, even more important, a sure means of crossing the many rivers of Rhodesia in all weathers. To carry the roads over high-level bridges would of course have been the ideal solution but the cost of these was prohibitive. In the early nineteen-twenties the Government of Southern Rhodesia began to experiment in the construction of causeways or low-level bridges in order to find a cheap, simple and practical answer to this problem. These bridges would be submerged during the hours when the floods were at their peak, but at other times could be used in the place of the drifts where so many wheels and axles were broken and so much delay resulted. Forty or more of these bridges were built with financial assistance from the Beit Trust which was established for the improvement of transport and communications.

The building of several major bridges was also financed by the Beit Trust, notably the Alfred Beit Bridge over the Limpopo river in 1928 connecting Rhodesia with South Africa, the Birchenough Bridge over the Sabi river in 1935, and in 1939 the Otto Beit Bridge over the Zambezi river connecting Rhodesia with Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia).

Problems of many kinds were encountered during construction, such as the transportation of equipment and materials over long distances, the use of untrained and primitive labour forces and European engineers away from the comforts of home surrounded by miles of wilderness and with fever and often sleeping sickness to fight against. Animals abounded everywhere, and every large river had its crocodiles.

The tourist and traveller in Rhodesia today who passes at speed. dry shod over a river in spate, or with comfort over a deep and rough riverbed, may find difficulty in imagining the frustration and danger, the toil and sweat, endured by the pioneer as he manoeuvered his wagon, drawn by an unwilling team of oxen, across the boulder strewn bed of a flooded river.

The bridge building programme of the Beit Trust came to a halt in 1949 and since then the work has been continued by the Rhodesia Government. Today the building of high-level, all-weather bridges plays an important part in the development of the backward rural areas bringing them easier communication with the outside world and thus advancement and prosperity to the inhabitants.