Author Archives: Sharon Waterworth

This very beautiful ORIGINAL watercolor painting of La Rochelle by Zimbabwe’s well-renowned Margi Grobelaar is going to be AUCTIONED on Saturday 31st October AT La Rochelle, during the 60th BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS.

This auction will help raise funds for the National Trust of Zimbabwe.

If you wish to take part in the auction from afar, we can help you out – we will have a WHATSAPP AUCTION GROUP set-up and will be happy to have your bids coming in LIVE during the auction.

Please send through your WHATSAPP NUMBER to the GROUP NUMBER which will be +263 772 359 087 and we will add you in.

Bidding for the painting will be during the course of the day on Saturday and the WHATSAPP group will be notified of the opening. Bids may commence when the auction starts.

RESERVE PRICE US$200 (two hundred dollars)

Please note that bids will be in US$

Good luck!

It was a real honor for the Trust to host The Hon. Mangaliso Ndlovu, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry last week.

The Hon. Minister was attending a conference at the Rhodes Nyanga hotel and decided to visit the Rhodes Nyanga Historical Exhibition during his trip to the Eastern Highlands.

Mr Marshall Nyanhanda, the Curator of the exhibition, warmly welcomed the Hon. Minister and his entourage and said that he was very privileged to meet everyone and to show them around the permanent collection.

The Hon. Mangaliso Ndlovu studying Cecil Rhodes Desk circa 1890.

We thank you very much for visiting the Rhodes Nyanga Historical Exhibition. It was our pleasure indeed.

The National Trust of Zimbabwe (NTZ) celebrated its 60^th birthday on 26th August 2020 in a very special place called ‘Worlds View ‘(a NTZ site) located on the western edge of the Nyanga escarpment right next to the magnificent Mount Nyamatoro. It is one of the most spectacular destinations for domestic and international tourists in Zimbabwe.

Guests assembled, mid-morning, in the spring sunlight at a height of 2,100m and gazed down from one of the highest points in the country with panoramic views across the central plateau spread out almost a km below them.

The view from Worlds View

Mr Guy Cary, Chair of Rhodes Nyanga Historical Exhibition (RNHE) Master of Ceremony (MC) officially opened the event by greeting and thanking guests for attending such an auspicious occasion.   Guy gave apologies from Mr David Scott, NTZ Chairman who was sadly unable to attend.

Mr Guy Cary opening the celebrations 

Sharon Waterworth, Vice Chair NTZ, then extended a very warm welcome to everyone present and said that she felt very privileged to be at the celebration being held at one of the most beautiful landmarks of Zimbabwe.   She said that Worlds View sits in amongst an Afromontane community which only occurs above 1,500–2,000 m and talked about the natural landscape: one covered with open grasslands, heathlands, wetlands and natural springs, rare and unique flora and fauna species with a high level of endemism.

Sharon explained that Worlds View is unique in terms of its ancient cultural heritage with sites on the upper slopes of Mount Nyamatoro that date back to the 14th and 15th centuries. The sites consist of early forts, stone walls, paths and enclosures, central pit structures and terraces: all beautifully crafted and utterly intriguing.  She mentioned that on the lower slopes there are sites that have only recently been discovered in 2018: Matrina’s Ruins, Jacok’s Ruins and Rob’s Folly: as tradition dictates, they were named after the gentlemen who unearthed them.

Guests were thanked for taking the time to celebrate the 60th birthday of the NTZ which was established on the 26th August 1960, promulgated by an Act of Parliament with the aim of protecting and managing properties for future generations to enjoy. Sharon invited Mr W.Dhlandhlara to say a traditional payer to bless the event. 

Mr W.Dhlandhlara saying a prayer

Guests were asked to raise their glasses and Sharon proposed a toast: Makorokoto (congratulations) to the NTZ on its 60th birthday! A remarkable achievement! 

                                                                            Guests toasting the NTZ 60^th birthday

Sharon went onto explain that NTZ is part of a much larger family network: INTO, a NGO founded in 2007 established to promote the conservation and enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage of all nations for the benefit of the people of the world. INTO represents over 55 million individual members and have countless millions of visitors to sites and properties across more than 25 counties.

NTZ are proud to be members of INTO and hugely grateful for their continued and unwavering support

In 2015 the INTO Africa Group of which NTZ is a full time member. The Africa Group brings together a vibrant network of African Heritage Organisations sharing their ideas and resources, developing a continent-wide voice and promoting and influencing on African cultural heritage matters.

Sharon gave her deepest appreciation to the Executive Council and Regional Committees who work tirelessly (in a voluntary capacity) to manage 7 properties and acknowledged the presence of those present: Fira Bache, Lin Goncalves, Clare Peech, Edone Anne and Aubrey Logan, Gill Honeyman, Merle Moore, Ray and Clutty, Naboth and Josephine Muchopa, June Weeks, Geoff Hawskley, Pat Hallowes and Guy Cary. She also thanked each and every one of the NTZ members.

Sincere thanks went to Gill Honeyman, Chair of Worlds View for more than 10 years, for hosting the event. Gill is always positive, determined, professional, extremely capable and passionate about the NTZ  and is continually striving to improve the visitor experience at the site. Her energy and dedication is a constant source of inspiration.

Sharon expressed grateful thanks to Matrina, Treasurer and the very able and willing resident caretakers: Luke, Arthur, Itai and Mat all of whom work hard to keep the site looking immaculate and Talent was thanked for serving refreshments.

Buffet table with a view                                      Guests enjoying lunch and refreshments under a shady tree

After a most delicious lunch, expertly prepared by Gill, everyone walked over to the veranda next to ‘Gill’s” Art Gallery.

Gills’ Gallery

Much to her surprise Edone was asked to join Sharon on the verandah who then went on to explain  about all the hard work and dedication that she has given to the NTZ over many years.  She said it had been such a real pleasure to work alongside Edone on the Executive Council and from the time the RNHE committee was formed in 2011 until she retired in 2019.

Sharon announced that Edone had certainly put the RNHE on the map and her achievements included  doubling the exhibition floor space, expanding the collection, showcasing work produced by local artisans, assisting to compile the curriculum for heritage education in Zimbabwe,  exhibiting the work of local artists – the re-discovery of Jonathan Matimba’s work was extraordinary- celebrating the 40th anniversary of the RNHE with singing, dancing and food for all, winning an international prize for the best Cultural Heritage Education project  which involved 130 schoolchildren was presented an the INTO conference in Bali,  co-author, with Archaeologist Mr Robert Burrett, of a publication entitled  “Nyanga’s Rich Heritage” an informative booklet promoting the natural beauty of Nyanga and the ancient and modern history of the area and organised numerous interesting and engaging talks on various subjects at the RNHE.

 Edone Ann Logan (second on the left) being presented with a UK National Trust book and a video set by Sharon, Lin Goncalves and Fira Bache

Deepest thanks were also given to Aubrey Logan for all his advice, encouragement, time, knowledge and invaluable assistance and continued good humour. And judging by the many wonderful comments written by visitors to the RHNE Edone and Aubrey have left a legacy and greater knowledge to all, especially to schoolchildren.  The NTZ hopes that you enjoy your retirement to the full!

After the presentation of gifts to Edone Ann, Sharon highlighted that we all having to change and adapt to a new landscape in which we find ourselves living in. Looking ahead she said that the NTZ pledges to keep being just as dynamic and relevant as ever. The challenge is to connect even more people to NTZ priceless historical sites, to their timeless natural wild areas and beauty, built structures and local communities.

She added that NTZ pledges to continue to catalogue scientific information, publish educational and historical material, work with local communities, scale up our cultural heritage, historical and environmental education programmes and through a successful Public, Private Partnership at La Rochelle, build a first class regional Agricultural College.  The vision for Worlds View is to continue with the biological monitoring and recording changes in the flora species and abundance flora and carry on with archaeological research and possibly unearth and protect more archaeological sites.

Guy Cary stepped up and gave a lovely speech in dedication of the late Mr Michael Kimberly (2 May 1934 – 3 January 2020) who was one of the Stalwarts of the NTZ in the early 70’s (see https://ntoz.org/tribute-to-mike-kimberley).  He said that Mike was a wonderful and dedicated supporter of NTZ and he made a great contribution to the success of the organisation.

Tribute to Mr M Kimberley by Guy Cary

Guy explained that Mike graduated at Witwatersrand University in Arts and Law and started practicing Law in Zimbabwe in 1960 and continued working until his retirement in September 2013. He was one of the founding members of the Aloes Cactus and Succulent Society of Zimbabwe in 1969. Guy added that Mike was an extremely determined, professional and thorough legal mind who was also heavily involved in the History Society of Zimbabwe, the Aloe Society among other community and environmental areas.

Afterwards guests gathered inside the gallery and the memorial plaque was unveiled and the formal naming of the ‘Mike Kimberley Room’ (adjacent the gallery) was declared official to much applause.

 The unveiling of the Mike Kimberley memorial plaque by Guy Cary, Sharon Waterworth and Gill Honeyman

Next, guests were invited to the first global screening of the first NTZ video made possible by generous funding by Mr H Leared, produced by Mr N Kuhn, to whom the NTZ is extremely grateful. The video is packed with interesting information about the NTZ and its sites (see https://ntoz.org/the-ntz-celebrates-its-60th-birthday-today).

Sharon then shared two very special birthday greetings:

I write as Chair of INTO to send much love and warm congratulations on the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the National Trust of Zimbabwe. I have to confess that having passed my own 60th birthday, I know from experience that there is a mixture of a pleasant feeling of experience, friendship and knowledge, alongside a sense that one had better finally grow up!

The NT Zimbabwe has achieved so much to be proud of in its 60 years, including a remarkable and beautiful property portfolio, and a range of activities and campaigns through which you stand up for the natural, built and cultural heritage of Zimbabwe.  I was also enormously impressed to learn, at the Bermuda ICNT, of the way in which you are striving to engage diverse communities in your work.

I hope you have a wonderful celebration later this week, and look forward to hearing all about it.  With love and very best wishes from all your friends all around the world.

Dame Fiona Reynolds, Chair, INTO

A video from Catherine Leonard, Secretary-General INTO entitled “Reminisces on the working partnership between INTO and the NTZ” was also shared (see https://into-icnt.org/social-media ) in which Catherine spoke of the friendship between the two organisations that evolved from an INTO conference held in Dublin in 2009.  A year later Oliver Maurice visited Zimbabwe to advise on the NTZ. During his stay he visited Worlds View, La Rochelle and RNHE and as he was so impressed INTO organised for Karen Dicken, People Project Manager at The National Trust, Plymouth, United Kingdom to go to Zimbabwe during which time she compiled a Management Plan for La Rochelle. Catherine went on to say that over the years the partnership had grown and facilitated projects such as assisting a Youth Programme in association with like-minded organisations in Sierra Leone and Uganda, and establishing the NTZ website. She ended by wishing the NTZ another 60 successful years.

The finale of a wonderful day of events was the cutting of a scrumptious 60^th cake iced with the signature colours of the NTZ.

 Mr Willie Dhlandhlara cutting the cake with Sharon Waterworth, Gill Honeyman and Guy Cary

It was a memorable occasion!

A video capturing the highlights of the event has been posted on the NTZ facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/National-Trust-of-Zimbabwe. If you enjoy it, please like and share the page. Thank you very much.

Birthday wishes from INTO Members.

Catherine Leonard has very kindly posted birthday wishes and cards received from the global INTO family that we would like to share with you, please see: https://into-icnt.org/social-media.

Thank you for reading this article.

60th birthday Celebrations

We are very proud to announce that the National Trust of Zimbabwe will be celebrating its 60th birthday this year! This is of course an amazing milestone.  The Trust was established in 26th August 1960 and ever since that date we have been working hard to carry out the  important job of protecting and managing properties that we are privileged to be the custodians of, for future generations to enjoy.

Trust Memories Birthday Competition: Be Part of History

We are going to launch a “Trust Memories” Birthday Competition: Be Part of History on Friday 17th July.

We are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating 60 successful years by sharing your earliest memories of a visit to one of our sites. It could be an old photograph/newspaper cutting or a short statement/story of how you felt/experienced whilst you were there.

We will be awarding one year’s free subscription to the best entry. Please visit or membership page to see the list of membership benefits worldwide.

The closing date is 12^th August 2020.

Please kindly email your memories to: ntzimbabwe@gmail.com

Please note:

In taking part you agree for your article to be published across our social media platforms.

The competition is only open to Zimbabwean residents.

Thank you very much.

We look forward to reading your entries.

“Heritage is precious: treasure it”

This stunning photograph was recently taken by a Ms Gemma Flower a visitor to one of the Trusts sites aptly called ‘Worlds View’.

It was taken on the summit of Mt. Nyamatoro.

The view overlooks the three Connemara Lakes (on the left hand side) and the plains of Nyanga below through the mist cloud (on the right).

Many thanks go to Gemma for sharing her visitor experience!

The Trust is deeply indebted to Mr H Leared of the La Rochelle Centre for replacing the timeworn National Trust plaque.

The new plaque, set on a copper plate, reflects the re-branded National Trust logo and colours (from green to blue).

It looks perfectly placed on the court yard wall of La Rochelle Country House and Spa!

The iconic metal sculpture in the fore ground was created by Cedric Green in 1961 who was a man of many talents. In addition to being an architect, he designed Lady Courtauld’s private pavilion known as the “Fantasy Room”, he was also a sculptor.

Originally entitled “Survivor” the sculpture is now affectionately known as “Don Quixote”.

Mrs. L. Goncalves, Council member of the Trust, and Mr. W. Dhlandhlara of the Solon Foundation (whom we are proud to collaborate with) were both pleased and privileged to represent the Trust at the Nairobi Symposium held in February 2020.

Mrs. L. Goncalves,   Prof. Kilmani Njogu and Mr. W. Dhlandhlara

The event was organised by the British Council and Twaweza Communications in Nairobi, Kenya and held in the stunning grounds of the Botanical Gardens of the National Museum of Nairobi. The Trust would like to acknowledge and extend its deep appreciation to the INTO who very kindly provided the sponsorship for them both to attend.

Ms Jill Coates,Director British Council Kenya 

The core question leading all the discussions at the British Council part of the Symposium was ‘How do youth involvement, contemporary cultural practices and advances in information technology contribute to the overall potential of cultural heritage and how can they lead to cultural heritage interventions becoming more inclusive and engaging with diverse and non-traditional heritage audiences?’

Speakers from a very widely varied group presented their subjects which included such diverse aspects of cultural experiences such as built heritage (buildings, world heritage sites and indigenous sites), intangible heritage such as performances, language, media, folk art, crafts and oral traditions; natural heritage (caves, eco-villages, landscapes) and museums (visual arts, archives, libraries, cultural objectives); and how technology, youth involvement and community participation can increase access to this heritage – and its benefits. The potential for cultural heritage in order to secure livelihoods to enhance social inclusion was also discussed.

Gender inclusivity was also discussed in the various panels, workshops and presentations.

Presentations included:

• Audience development strategies – with speakers from the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund’s ‘Kick the Dust’ project;
• A lady from Somalia spoke representing the small Somali community in Kenya, who has been instrumental in creating the Awjama Cultural Centre in order to offer the Somali people, in particular the youth who are vulnerable, a chance to maintain their cultural roots whilst living away from their own country. Her project started when she found that the youth of her own Somali society were playing football in the road and had little else in the way of cultural interest;
• Emily Drani of the Cross-Cultural Foundation-Uganda gave a very poignant presentation saying that ‘cultural identity is in crisis’ and that with social media and technology as advanced as they are, they should be used as modern strategies to teach culture to the youth, with outreach programmes going towards cultural preservation, without losing everything in the homogenisation of ‘cultural diversity’. Youth today are more wrapped up in modern music and more programmes should be developed to give them access to their history, culture etc;
• Creative and strategic partnerships between cultural heritage and technology – This included a presentation by a South African speaker, Andiswa Bukula of the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources, who is working on a project to ‘collect’ the ‘click language’ Xhosa, in order to capture it, preserve it and make it available on-line to students, as it is only spoken among a diminishing small group of people in South Africa;
• Cultural heritage for inclusive growth with speakers from Kenya, Vietnam and Colombia;
• Contemporary approaches to programming for cultural heritage;
• Cultural heritage and entrepreneurship;
• In a presentation by the two invitees from Colombia, who spoke through an interpreter, they mentioned that in their very small, marginalised rural communities in Columbia (under ‘Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth’), their MIZAK community (like a small tribe) is one of 107 such small communities being encouraged by tourism to embrace their heritage and keep more young people in the communities through encouragement to return to/remain in, their cultural roots.

What makes a legend? A story. The bigger the story, the bigger the legend!

The statement lead to a discussion:

Contemporary approaches – why should young people be interested or involved? When you ENGAGE with them they become interested. Traditional games and stories for example.

Masai cultural traditions were discussed such as the rites of passage for the young men. How do you reach out to collect information and stories from subtribes? Organisers have to rely on local communities to provide contact and information.

Spotlighting rituals – making them available to be seen/shared by visitors/tourists if possible as a way of bringing income to small communities. Selling sustainable fair trade quality products on the market, feeding the community, providing tourists with souvenirs – coffee, creams, lotions etc using locally produced packaging.

Cultural practices/entrepreneurship – can it work together? Maintaining dignity and honour – an avenue to sustainability.

Alexander Lamont-Bishop, the new Deputy Director General of INTO spoke of the National Trust in the UK and it’s history.

He explained how properties can be donated to the Trust in order to have them protected (ie from developers) according to the owners wishes and as Tax saving moves to protect family inheritances etc. and also a way of maintaining green spaces forever.

                                                                                               Alexander Bishop addressing delegates

Concentrating on success stories Judy Ogana who is the National Officer for Culture, UNESCO, Nairobi Office, gave a presentation on a Government funded exercise to preserve Fort Jesus, a World Heritage Site near the ‘old town’ section of Mombasa.

Mrs Goncalves would like extend her appreciation to the British Council and Twaweza Communications for organaising such a successful event.

Elkanah Ong’esa – famous Kenyan stone sculptor

In her report back to the Executive Council Mrs Goncalves pointed out that Culture is not static, it is dynamic!

She highlighted the following points that are especially relevant for the Trust:

• Cultural art, traditional medicine, ethnic jewelry and music are important factors to consider in going forward
• Be more involved ‘on the ground’ with more influence in local indigenous cultural heritage preservation
• Focus on the preservation of sites and buildings for indigenous education, youth involvement, gender equality and in particular aiding women to become self-sustaining and more valuable in their own communities.
• Engaging the youth
• Hold Heritage and Craft and Music Fairs
• Run Heritage ‘hubs’
• Themed webinars/Podcasts/Social media

Specifically, as members of the INTO, the Trust should center on:

• Transactional membership
• Values membership
• Legacies
• Green Spaces
• Natural and cultural heritage conservation
• Community outreach
• Volunteering
• Commercial

The Trust is now working on implementing the theme of the conference:  Culture Grows: Between Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

We thank you very much for reading this article!