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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
NESTLED in the south western part Zimbabwe, about 100 km west of the bustling border town of Beitbridge on the eastern banks of the Shashe River, lies a picturesque rugged ancient landscape worn down by relentless erosion.

Tuli Circle is redolent with history steeped in a legacy of colonialism, which adds hugely to its potential as a tourism draw card.
It is from Fort Tuli that the Pioneer Column then entered Zimbabwe to establish Fort Victoria (Masvingo), then Fort Charter (Chivhu) before settling for Fort Salisbury (Harare) on September 12 1890.

Fort Tuli was built by the Pioneer Column and by “A” Troop of the British South African Police (BSAP). Initially named Fort Selous as Frederick Courtney Selous, a British explorer and professional hunter, used the site as a base for some of his hunting expeditions, the Fort was later re-named Fort Tuli although it is actually on the Shashe River with the Tuli River joining the Shashe River some 17 kilometres upstream.

The historical site was the first point at which the Pioneer Column set up its rear base for the occupation of Zimbabwe on July 11, 1890 and subsequently moving north to Fort Salisbury (now Harare) on September 13, 1890 where they raised their flag.

Fort Tuli was also the launching point of the Jameson Raid into the South African Republic which contributed significantly to the start of the Second Anglo-Boer War in the late 19th century.

The 1899 Boer War fortifications are slightly north of the 1890 Pioneer Fort and comprised outer trenches and defensive walls and gun emplacements.

From 1890 to 1893 Fort Tuli was the main entry point into Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and a collection of stores and buildings grew up at the base of the Fort. It became the training depot for new BSAP recruits and their discharge depot.

Tuli was the first location north of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers where a “European” style building was erected.
Cecil John Rhodes used cannon fire from a vintage point to mark the circle and the cannon stand is still there as a stark reminder of this incident. It forms what is today the heart of Tuli Safari Area.

A total of 25 graves of the first pioneers have stood the test of time. The inscriptions on the tombstones give brief tales about their lives and how they died.

Among those whose remains were interred at the Pioneer Column Cemetery at Fort Tuli, is a Scottish marksman who died due to injuries sustained during the Anglo-Boer war (December 1880 to March 1881), a seven-month-old baby and one man identified as Theodore C Fenton who was mauled by a lion after mistaking it for a dog.

Fenton’s story is that he had more than a cupful of liquor and had to get up at night to answer to nature’s call. He saw what he thought was a large dog and took a hefty kick at it. The large dog turned out to be a lion and it mauled him and he died two days later.

Over the years, the graves have not been tampered with because the pioneers dug a ditch around them and build it with cement to deter elephants and other animals from accessing the gravesite.

Tuli forms the centre of a 16-kilometre circle; the southern half of which stretches south of the Shashe River.

This circle was established by the early pioneers with the agreement of the local tribesmen as a no-go area for the grazing of the locals’ cattle.

This prevented the spread of rinderpest and preserved the grazing for the pioneers’ oxen which pulled their ox-wagons as they trekked northwards.

Through the passage of Rhodes’ Pioneer column into the country, thousands of soldiers, police, settlers and general travellers who travelled through Fort Tuli, came to know the splendor of Zimbabwe and its abundance of wildlife.

Today, the place has become the international boundary between Zimbabwe and Botswana which is formed by the Shashe River until it reaches the “Tuli Circle”. The entire west bank is now administered as the Tuli Safari Area by the ZimParks.

The BSAP station was a wooden modular style of Victorian building, copied from the UK and erected to house members of the BSAP who monitored the river crossing just south of the building’s location.

Until this time a large fort (Fort Tuli) had existed on the southern bank of the Shashe where oxen and horses were rested prior to undertaking the river crossing.

In the 1970s this building was relocated from its original site and erected at the site of the old, and now obliterated, Fort Tuli.
It was used to house artifacts and items of historic interest which were found by persons in the area of the old Fort.

When Chronicle news crew visited Fort Tuli it observed a dumpsite of tins from canned foods and pieces of bottles of beer and whisky among other things. There is also the foundation of Fort Tuli jail and part of its walls made of trimmed stone, war fortifications and museum site. The gun emplacement of October 1890 is still intact.

Historian and executive director of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ), Dr Godfrey Mahachi said plans are underway for the Pioneer Column graves to be declared national monuments.

Currently, the graves fall under ZimParks, the owners of the Tuli Safari Area.

“The Pioneer Column graves have not yet been declared national monuments and therefore we are not managing them. Currently, we are in the process of consultations and mobilising resources so that once the site is declared a national monument, we can be able to look after it,” said Dr Mahachi.

“Fort Tuli is part of the history of the colonisation of the country. The graves are related to the movement of the Pioneer Column, which is a part our history and heritage that we ought to conserve as much as possible.”

ZimParks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said Tuli is a key component in the country’s tourism industry.

“As part of our efforts to attract locals and promote domestic tourism, we are going to introduce inclusive packages to lure visitors to our national parks, including Fort Tuli, which is a key component in terms of boosting tourism due to its rich history,” he said.

During the rainy season, when the Shashe River is in flood, the Tuli Circle is largely inaccessible. The area can be accessed from Gwanda town via Guyu and Hwali or from Beitbridge going through Nottingham Estate and Shashe under Maramani area.

A four-wheel drive is the most ideal vehicle for crossing the riverbed.-@mashnets