hodesia is often referred to as a "young man’s country"; the challenge of making a civilized state out of its wildness and grandeur are among its chief attractions.

ne of the first to realize this aspect of the country was Colonel R. S. S. Baden-Powell who later, as Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, became famous for his founding of the Boy Scout movement. At the time of the Matabele Rebellion he was appointed Chief of Staff to the General Officer Commanding Imperial Troops, General Sir Frederick Carrington.

he Matabele, after initial successes at the outbreak of the Rebellion, then suffered several defeats outside Bulawayo and retired to the difficult, rugged country of the Matopo Hills. An arduous campaign followed directed on the British side by Colonel Plumer, later Field-Marshal Lord Plumer. Colonel Baden-Powell’s published diary of the Campaign contains many lively sketches of the Matopos and of the events both grave and gay in which he was involved during the fighting, together with descriptions of his own scouting among the granite kopjes and bush-filled valleys. After the Siege of Mafeking during 1899-1900, Baden-Powell used his experience of military reconnaissance in Africa as the basis for his book Scouting for Boys, published in 1908, which started the great movement for youth throughout the world.

couting is as popular in Rhodesia as anywhere in the world and Rhodesians feel that they have a proprietory interest in it.

his panel is based on a sketch by Baden-Powell himself. In it he is shown on horseback reporting to Colonel Plumer and his staff before the Battle of Tshingengoma on 5 August 1896.

he battle which Plumer was directing is an interesting one; his advance guard got out of touch with the main body, marched into an ambush and narrowly escaped annihilation. Plumer sent three squadrons of mounted men to their support but failed to win a decisive victory. The dead soldiers were buried in the cemetery at Umlugulu Fort close to the site of the action where their graves can be seen. Tshingengoma is only one of several battlefields in the Matopo Hills which can be visited today.