Tags
Apartheid Museum, Desmond Tutu, Hector Pieterson, Nelson Mandella, Pretoria, South Africa, Soweto, Soweto Uprising, zebra
Arriving in Pretoria then a day tour to Soweto
After a fabulous time seeing lots of animals in Africa, I arrived in South Africa to stay a few days with two Aussie friends who are living in Pretoria. My friends organised a private driver to collect me at the railway station (after my trip on Rovos Rail). It was a pretty confronting part of town and even though I was in a car I still didn’t feel all that safe. My friends told me later that is why they don’t come into that part of town ie it’s unsafe and nor do a lot of taxi drivers hence the private driver.
On my day of arrival, my friends drove me a couple of kilometres to the top of the local mountain to see fabulous views across Pretoria. And they were…
But before we reached the top, we were so lucky to see a couple of zebra and some other animals – photos not so good as took them from a moving car.
It was amazing to see the zebra with a backdrop of the city just standing there next to the road…
Geoff who was driving pulled up very close to the zebra and as we were quiet they didn’t move for quite some time. This allowed me to take some photos close up; it makes you realise how stunning [and unique] these animals really are.
That evening we went out to dinner at a local restaurant – a fun night where we enjoyed pizza and some great South African white wine. 
Geoff told me that he and his wife Sue regularly go out early for dinner but he is very careful on the roads especially when stopped at traffic lights – the chance of carjacking is very high both during the day and evening!
Home invasions are a possibility too. My friend’s home as I previously mentioned in another post, is enclosed by a five-metre brick fence with razor wire at the top and an armed guard response. The bedrooms are located at one end of their home and at night we locked ourselves in with a steel security door. People call them escape or panic rooms, a concept made famous by the movie of the same name with Jodie Foster as the lead. But it’s a good solution to the growing threat of crime and associated violence in South Africa. My friends told me that all the homes around their area have these safe areas within.
The next day, Sue organised me a day tour to Soweto and I was picked up outside their home around 8am. There were six of us on the tour including the tour guide/bus driver. We drove to Soweto which is located in the city of Johannesburg and stopped just outside the township to take photos of the welcome sign…
Driving from Pretoria I saw many shanty towns along the way and our driver explained that some are connected to electricity and water but many others do not have any electricity or running water and I dread to think how hot these homes are in summer as the majority are made from corrugated metal and sheets of plastic and others are made from plywood and cardboard boxes.
(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
We then visited two museums. The first was the Apartheid Museum which I found very sad to learn more of the history of apartheid but at the same time incredibly interesting. So much I didn’t know! There are twenty-two individual exhibitions in the museum including the several about the life of Nelson Mandela; his original car and replicas of his cell (wow so small). And a great photo display at the entry of Mandela’s face throughout his life.
The second was the Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector was a student at a local high school in 1976 who was marching with 10,000 other students from his high school to the Orlando Stadium. This was a result of what is known as the Soweto Uprising. Mass protests erupted over the government’s policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than their native language.
Police opened fire in Orlando West on the 10,000 students and rioting ensued. Twenty-three people died on the first day in Soweto, twenty one were black, including Hector and two were white people including a lifelong humanitarian. Again it was dreadfully sad to read the accounts from people who were there and relatives of the deceased including the sister of Hector.
Our next stop was the street in Soweto where both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived; actually Desmond Tutu still visits his home and our guide told us his daughter still lived there. Mandela’s home is located at 8115 Vilikazi Street, Orlando West and is now a museum as it was donated to the Soweto Museum Trust by Mandela in 1997. 
Once there we were able to go inside and see Mandela’s bedroom, study, lounge and tiny kitchenette all with many photos and posters on the walls. It was so incredibly small and this is where Mandela was held under house arrest for all those years.
We were also shown the bullet hole in the wall above a red framed window and told this came from one of the many attacks on Mandela and his family by the Apartheid Police…
And an interesting fact from our tour guide…the name Soweto comes from South West Townships of which Orlando is part of…a huge day of learning for me.
This is definitely a tour to take if you are either in Johannesburg or Pretoria.
My first day in Pretoria I took a bus trip to Soweto which was really interesting to see the Apartheid Museum and learn about the history [I will write on that separately]. On day two my friends took me to the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve which is a privately owned game reserve covering about 1200 hectares which opened to the public in 1990. I am always a bit worried about these private owned parks as I always hope the animals are not caged but allowed to roam free. In the main this one was very good.
Our next stop was to the cafe just outside the park where there is a giraffe that comes up close to the landing as knows we will all have food for her which can be purchased from the cafe. I stroked her and she was so beautiful.
Then it was time to drive into the park, there is a small cost per person (goes to the running of the park) and after paying this, off we went on our adventure. We first saw some cute little warthogs and Impala and various other animals…all roaming free.
Zebra was next for our viewing pleasure…
We also saw several large horned animals – in photo order I think from memory they are Sable Antelope [what a beautiful animal], Wildebeest and either Waterbuck or perhaps Springbuck.
We drove a little way towards the predator enclosure [I was happy that it is huge and took us ages to drive around] and first saw some wild dogs relaxing under a tree…
As we were driving along the road one of us pointed out (think it was Geoff as he spotted most of the animals) this incredible lion…what a sight – I think I took sixty or so photos of the same thing as the lion didn’t really move but did change the position of his head a couple of times.
A short distance away was the lioness – beautiful animal too.
I could not of been happier at this stage and we reluctantly left to find the rhino; which I also could not wait to see! We drove around for some time and Geoff told me he had purchased tickets for the animal creche so we could pat the lion cubs and cheetah. How lovely! Again money goes towards the reserve and the upkeep of the animals.
I did pat the white lion cubs; there were two of them and they were awfully sweet. The public is allowed to interact with the cubs and cheetah for five minutes at a time which allows us to pat and take photos whilst being monitored by the keeper.
The cheetah was very beautiful too; another magnificent animal. 
As were the white tigers especially the ‘teenagers’ who were playing and one jumped into a waterless well and looked like she was loving it.
And in the next enclosure was the cutest Pygmy hippopotamus; quite a bit of room to roam around which was good.
We left this area and drove around again trying to find the rhino; but to no avail – very disappointing but Geoff said he had seen them the week before but they didn’t want to be found on this day.
On our drive throughout the reserve, we also saw some lovely birds including baby Ostrich [how cute] and then it was time to leave; fantastic to see these amazing animals in this enormous reserve…maybe next time for the Rhino!
Really glad I went and really grateful for my lovely friends taking me there!!
After spending just over a week in Zimbabwe and Botswana, my friend Jenny and I took the Rovos Rail, a private railway company that operates out of Capital Park Station in Pretoria, from Zimbabwe to Pretoria over three nights.
Inside is pretty stunning too…
The grounds also have a stunning view of the spray from Victoria Falls and the bridge that marks the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
After a complimentary glass of champagne and a briefing on our impending travel, we boarded our train and within minutes had departed.
The suite also has an en-suite bathroom with shower. 
Before we departed the chef and his team came and spoke to me about my dietary requirements – a lovely personal touch.
One afternoon I walked up to the one of the two lounge cars; this one being near the rear of the train. It was 4pm and afternoon tea was being served. Fruit, biscuits, petit fours and small sandwiches are on offer along with whatever beverages you wish.
I managed to take some photos of African homes and the countryside.
Positioned at the rear of the train past the lounge car is the observation car which can seat thirty-two passengers. It’s a lovely area to sit and watch where the train is travelling and of course see that lovely countryside. Permission was sought and granted by South African Railways to place the observation cars at the back of the trains, which allowed windows to be enlarged and an open air type balcony to be built. 
During the trip we passed along the edge of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s largest wildlife reserve travelling south-east to Kennedy Siding for an overnight stop.
We saw zebra, giraffe, elephant and many unusual and beautiful birds…
We then head for Bulawayo whilst Jenny and I exchanged Christmas presents – nice to do this on a train! We then crossed the Botswana border at Plumtree during the evening and in the morning we travelled south through Francistown and on towards Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. A short time later we crossed the South African border and lunch is served as the train passes through the farmlands of the Marico Valley.
Finally [and sadly] we arrive in Pretoria on the day after Boxing Day around mid-morning. A lovely surprise to see Mr Rovos himself waiting to welcome all the passengers. I still had my train legs (bit wobbly) for some time after disembarking the train.