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Published: October 22nd 2014
Aviator Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa--Wednesday-Friday, April 2nd-4th
Before we left home, we had made arrangements to stay in Johannesburg for three days longer than the rest of the group. First, we knew we needed to get rested before the 17 hour flight back to the US and second, we wanted to see Pretoria. It seemed to us to be an incomplete tour of South Africa if we didn’t see the Administrative capitol, which was only 30-40 miles north of Johannesburg. We were both not sure where we had heard the song, “We are marching to Pretoria,” but that was also part of our desire to see the place. (Thought originally it might be a Scout song Dad sang which might be true, but The Weavers recorded it in the 60's and we might more “recently” heard it from them. Found it ironic that this song is based on an American Civil War song called “Marching through Georgia.” )
Pretoria We scheduled a “Tour by Locals” tour of Pretoria to take place after taking one down day to relax, which we needed after going constantly for a month. Our tour guide picked us up with a driver at 8:00
that morning. The first part of the drive was along some of the same freeway we had travelled before when returning the RV.
Soon, we were driving past some really nice suburbs with mini-mansions built on the rolling hills, as we got closer to the city. The land had quickly gone from the flat to the hilly, as we approached our first stop, the massive granite Voortrekker Monument that sits in a Nature Reserve on top of Monument Hill. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk. After walking up a flight of stairs, you are standing in a courtyard/patio area. Here, there are a number of carved granite, life size, ox-cart wagons on the ½ circular retaining wall.
After climbing another flight of stairs, you arrive at the main entrance of the Memorial. You then enter into a huge domed space that is surrounded by four arched windows made from yellow Belgian glass. Along all the inside walls, are carved, almost life-size, marble friezes consisting of 27 bas-relief panels that depict the history of the Great Trek from 1835 to the signing of the Sand River Convention in 1852.
In the center of the floor, is
a large circular opening through which a Cenotaph can be viewed. Through an opening in the dome, a ray of sunlight shines at twelve o'clock on December 16
th annually (date of the Battle of Blood River), falling onto the center of the Cenotaph, and striking the words 'Ons vir Jou, Suid-Afrika' (Afrikaans for 'We for Thee, South Africa'). The ray of light is said to symbolise God's blessing on the Voortrekkers.
After spending some time looking at the grounds and monument, we drove to the adjacent hilltop to see Fort Schanskop, one of the four forts that was built to protect Pretoria. It was built by the government of the South African Republic (ZAR) just before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in about 1897. It was a very modern fort, for its time, as it was supplied with a generator for electricity, electrical lighting, and a search light. A telephone and telegraphic links were also installed.
As we came down through the Nature Reserve we spotted a herd of Blesbok antelope on the side of the road.
From here, we went into the City and stopped in front of the Paul Kruger house and museum.
In 1836, his parents and family became Voortrekkers and settled in the Western Transvaal. Paul was granted a farm at age 16 in the same area. He married and had 16 children. He became involved in politics and the Boer Republic. When it was annexed by British in 1877, he took a leading role against England during the war between1880-81.
Kruger was elected president of the Republic and resided at this home between 1884-1900. He left here to go into exile in Europe. He died in 1904 in Switzerland, but is buried in Pretoria. He was instrumental in setting aside the land that became Kruger National Park–sort of in the same way as Teddy Roosevelt did in the USA.
Our driver worked his way around and through the construction around Church Square, which is the center of the downtown district. Valerie was able to step out of the van very briefly and get some pictures of the lovely buildings, but it was crazy with every street in the square torn up. Not sure she got a good picture of the large bronze statue of Paul Kruger that is in the center of the square.
From here we
drove to the Melrose House, which was built in 1886 by businessman George Jesse Heys. This large Victorian home, was requisitioned by Lord Roberts for the headquarters of the British forces after Pretoria was invaded in June 1900. The occupation lasted until the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed there on May 31, 1902, which marked the end of the Anglo-Boer war. The driver was able to park and we got out of the van and walked around the house and lovely grounds.
Our last stop was the Union Buildings situated on a bluff (called Meintjieskop) overlooking Pretoria. The buildings are the official office of the President and the architecture represents the joining of the Anglo and Boer forces symbolized by the two towers into one nation. It is a very popular tourist spot, especially since buses can easily park there and the view is spectacular. In the lovely gardens is a newly-erected (about 3 months old) 30-foot statue of Mandela, which was the center of much photo-taking.
By now, it was way after lunch time, so we headed south to a restaurant in the suburbs that served typical Afrikaans food. Unfortunately, it was closed and seemed to be
out of business. So, after some thought, we were driven to Doornkloof, the former farm and home of General Jon Smut and his family for 40 years. We had lunch in the garden there.
Who was Jan Smuts you ask? as I did, since I didn’t think I had ever heard of him. Well, he was a prominent South African and British Commonwealth statesman and military leader. In addition to various cabinet posts in SA, he served two terms as Prime Minister.
He led the Boer Commando in the Second Boer War for the Transvaal. During the WWI, he led the armies of SA against Germany, capturing German South-West Africa and commanding the British Army in East Africa. During this time, he was also one of the members of the British War Cabinet. He became a field marshal in the British Army in 1941, and served in the Imperial War Cabinet under Winston Churchill. He was the only person to sign both of the peace treaties ending WWI and WWII.
One of his greatest accomplishments was his work in drafting the covenant for the League of Nations, the exact design and implementation of which relied upon Smuts.
He later worked for the formation of the UN and wrote the preamble to the United Nations Charter. He was the only person to sign the charters of both the League of Nations and the UN.
His simple wooden home with a tin roof was filled with pictures and mementos of his and his family’s lives. We spent quite some time learning about this man before we headed back down the freeway to our hotel.
Spent the next day resting and then the next day we flew the 17 loooong hours back to NY.
Totsiens Suid-Afrika! Spent a couple of days in NY decompressing and doing nothing else before flying back to Atlanta.
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Family Community Wagon
This community wagon belonged to my grandfather, SP Botha ( We called him Oupa Faan ). My mother was his second youngest daughter, Hester Christina Elizabeth Botha ( later Minnaar ). He owned several ox and horse drawn carriages, and had a beautiful Spider in the garage.