Shiwa Ng'andu: Difference between revisions

From his boyhood, Gore-Browne had an ambition to own an estate like that of his aunt, Dame Ethel Locke King, at Weybridge in England. Although comparatively wealthy himself, he could not afford such an estate in Britain. Land in Northern Rhodesia was very much cheaper for white settlers. At the boundary commission he had come to admire the [[Bemba people|Bemba workers]] and so he travelled to their country looking for a site. Arriving at [[Lake Ishiba Ng'andu|Lake Shiwa Ngandu]] in April 1914 with his Bemba servants and porters, he knew he had found it. World War I intervened but its horrors only increased his desire to return to Shiwa Ngandu and achieve his dream. He also harboured the ideal of establishing a patrician regime of the kind whose time was ending in Britain after the war.

The estate never managed to make consistent and steady profits. The soil was too acidic for most crops, and after trying various other sources of revenue, they found a more stable income in the production of essential oils and citrus blossoms especially when the Second World War closed off supplies of essential oils from the rivieras of France and Bulgaria. However, his projects were heavily subsidized by Dame Ethel Locke King, with whom he was obsessively attached and corresponded from his childhood until her death. This source of revenue ended in 1958 when the citrus trees were attacked by a blight.

[[Stewart Gore-Browne]] died in [[Kasama, Zambia|Kasama]], Zambia in 1967, and to this date is the only white man to have been given a state funeral in the history of Zambia, with a eulogy given by then President [[Kenneth Kaunda]].

After his death the estate was managed by one of his daughters, Lorna, and her husband John Harvey. They had four children, who grew up at the estate. They were filmed by the British Broadcasting Corporation travelogue series ''Pole to Pole'' in 1991, which included actor Michael Palin's visit to the estate. But only six months later in 1992, Lorna and John Harvey were murdered at Shiwa Ngandu (see "The Africa House")<ref name="Lamb">{{cite book|author=Christina Lamb|title=The Africa House: The True Story of an English Gentleman and His African Dream|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=0c29a3DXZhUC |year=2005| p=340 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-073588-3}}</ref> by three men who were caught and convicted. They were [[African National Congress|ANC]] members living in exile in Zambia. The ANC disavowed any prior knowledge and condemned the murders, and although some property was stolen, possible motives remain speculative.

Recently Shiwa House has been partially restored and has opened five rooms for paying guests under the name Shiwa Ngandu Manor House.<ref name="zamb_Wher">{{Cite web | title = Where to stay | author =  | work = Zambia Travel Guide |publisher =Bradt Travel Guides | date =  | accessdate = 2016-06-02 | url = http://www.zambia-travel-guide.com/bradt_guide.asp?bradt=682 | language =  | quote =  }}</ref> An airstrip has been built for charter flights. The estate's remote beauty is once more accessible to visitors. The grave of Sir Stewart is at rest in the extraordinary African paradise he created.  Lorna and John Harvey's sons have reintroduced wildlife, and established a large cattle ranch. Poaching is under control, and the estate is proving to be a significant source of employment in the area.

[[Category:1967 deaths]]