Being a tourist in Pretoria

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I am in South Africa for work and based in Pretoria. This has given me some time to explore the city and do some of the touristy things. Last weekend I went to of the two main sites in Pretoria, the Voortrekker Monument and Freedom Park. In some ways the two sites are very similar but also very different.

The Voortrekker monument was built in the 1930s and 1940s and is dedicated to the Voortrekkers who left the Cape area to settle further inland. The monument itself is an imposing structure, very prominent on its hilltop location. It consists of a long marble muriel in the main hall of the monument and a basement exhibition. Its an interesting visit and does describe the history of South Africa. It's also useful to understand the people who some of the roads in Pretoria are named after. It also interesting as it does describe the role of the children and women in the great trek. However, I felt uncomfortable with the depictions in the marble murual of the battles the Voortrekkers undertook agains the tribes they encountered.

Nearby is the freedom park, a monument built recently to foster integration between the different peoples of South Africa. I have to say it is one of my favourite places in Pretoria. I went on a Sunday morning and it was incredibly peaceful and has lots of great views of the city.

The park itself consists of different areas. One is a long wall commerating fallen heroes during the various wars and apartheid. Another is an eternal flame, which when I visited was not lit, not really living up to its name. There is also a traditional South African meeting place / shrine, where visitors have to remove their shoes. Freedom Park is still under construction and the last piece, a museum is not due to open till late 2012.

Both the Voortrekker monument and Freedom Park are worth a visit and combining them in one trip makes an interesting contrast.

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Photos

View of Pretoria
University of South Africa and Telecom tower

View of Pretoria
Pretoria station area

Comments

[nat]

cool!
nice pictures! why there was smoke coming out from the second picture of Freedom Park?

[Padders]

re: nat
The second photo is of the sacred meeting place part of freedom park. They had a little fire there, which explains the smoke.