Mbalabala

Mbalabala, originally known as Balla Balla, is a village on the main

Beitbridge Beitbridge is a border town in the province of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. The name also refers to the border post and bridge spanning the Limpopo River, which forms the political border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. The border on the S ...

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

road in uMzingwane district(at the junction with the Filabusi Road) in Matabeleland South providence,

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. Situated approximately 41 miles (66 km) south-east of the city of

. The name is derived from the

Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe * Sumayela Ndebele (Northern Transvaal Ndebele), located in South Africa Languages *Southern Ndebele language, the language of ...

name for the

greater kudu The greater kudu (''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'') is a large woodland antelope, found throughout East Africa, eastern and southern Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory (animal), territory, they are sparsely populated in most areas d ...

, . It was originally rendered ''Balla Balla'' by Europeans, which was altered to its present name in 1982 by the Zimbabwean government in order to coincide closer with the local orthography. The village has a railway station on the

Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway The Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway (BBR) is a privately owned railway company that provides a rail link in Zimbabwe between Beitbridge at the South African border and Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo. The BBR is a build-operate-transfer project th ...

and is the railhead for the mining area of

Filabusi Filabusi is a town in the Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe. The town is the administrative capital of Insiza District and a service centre for the surrounding mining and farming areas. Location Filabusi lies off the A9 road (Zimbabwe), ...

. The village also hosts a large army barracks, which is the Zimbabwe School of Infantry, formerly Shaw Barracks for the

Rhodesian African Rifles The Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) was a regiment of the Rhodesian Army. The ranks of the RAR were recruited from the black African population, although officers were generally from the white population. The regiment was formed in May 1940 in the ...

from 1976 to 1980. The site was previously St. Stephen's College from February 1959 to December 1975. Mbalabala is situated on high ground, which forms a ridge between the Mzingwane and Mbilambowe watersheds, in an important cattle ranching area with a history of gold prospecting. There is a prominent landmark nearby in the form of a granite hill (

kopje An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

) known as Balloon Kop or "Baldy" - due to its bare rock. Populated places in Zimbabwe {{Zimbabwe-geo-stub