Day 15 Johannesburg

This morning we had decided to go to the Apartheid Museum in Pretoria, and we had to travel along a section of  motorway.  We noticed a sign at the side of the road which was extremely disturbing to all of us, basically it stated all travel on motorways in this area, was extremely dangerous and people should not stop on any account as there has recently been a spate of people being hijacked in their cars at gunpoint. To say this was disturbing would be an understatement.  We locked the doors on the 4 x 4 and continued on to our destination.

Apartheid Museum Pretoria

The Apartheid Museum opened in 2001 and it is acknowledged as the pre-eminent museum in the world, dealing with 20th century South Africa, at the heart of which is the apartheid story.
In 1995 the South African government set up a process for the granting of casino licenses, establishing an agency to do this called the Gambling Board.  The bid documents stipulated that bidders should demonstrate how they would attract tourism and thereby grow the economy and stimulate job creation.
A consortium, called Akani Egoli (Gold Reef City), put in a bid that included the commitment to building a museum.  Their bid was successful, the Gold Reef City Casino was built and an adjacent piece of land given  for the construction of the museum.

The cost of the construction of what became the Apartheid Museum - approximately 80 million rand - was paid for by Gold Reef City.
I could have stayed in the museum all day, I found it so interesting and was totally absorbed with the various exhibits.  The audio tour was excellent and gave you a good insight into the plight and struggles of a multi cultural Africa.

Kath with her audio tour headset

From 1948-91, the policy of racial discrimination known as apartheid plagued the country of South Africa.
Apartheid was a system of laws and measures designed to oppress the rights of blacks, while maintaining white supremacy within the ranks of the government as well as society.  These rules and regulations were often harsh and unjust in nature.

                                                        Nelson Mandela as a young man.

Picture Exhibits

Some of the exhibits try to explain the full history of apartheid, and without turning this blog into a historical account of the political points from both sides for the "Pro Apartheid" and  "Anti Apartheid" I will keep my own thoughts of what I heard and read while in the museum to myself and not commit to paper.
It would be difficult to talk about the apartheid museum without some mention of Nelson Mandela, as there is a section of the museum which is dedicated to him and his involvement with ANC.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to the establishment of democracy in 1994. As President, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.^[2][3]

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father).^[4] Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades.

F.W. de Klerk & Nelson Mandela

One experience that Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu all have in common is that they were all  Zulu Bantu Boys, which at the age of 16 had to be circumcised by a traditional surgeon, were the elder of the village would walk down the line of 16 year old boys, making a ring type cut of their foreskins until they fell off. The boys could not so much as blink or show any emotion, it was "A right of Passage" that took them beyond pain. They shouted, Ndiyindola  "I am the Man". Nelson Mandela said that he did not shout as loud as he could and that he felt a tear trickle down his cheeks.

For Nelson Mandela the circumcision was some thing that linked him to his ancestors, in losing part of his manhood he became a man.

Nelson Mandela

We had lunch in the grounds of the museum, and then crossed the car park outside the museum to the Gold Reef City Theme Park which was where an original gold mining plant and mine shaft where situated. Once again the signs outside were clear and straight to the point " No Firearms" this word keeps cropping up!!

Gold  Reef City Theme Park

Gold stampmills

These stampmills were donated by the Durban Roodepoort Deep Mining Company where they were in operation from the early 1900's and worked continuously until they were replaced by tube mills. These mills crushed approximately 50 million tons of ore during their working life, yielding more than 200 tons of gold.

Stampmill for crushing gold ore.

There was a mine shaft and pit head tower in the next picture, with a large ferris wheel at the side of the entrance to the theme park, which had caught some of the World Cup fever that was in South Africa, this year, as the gondola's had world cup footballs as canopies.

Gold Reef City Theme Park

Unfortunately we were running out of time to enter the theme park, as we still had to drive through Johannesburg to reach the airport for our late afternoon departure. We still managed to take some pictures as we travelled through the city.

Johannesburg Skyline

Johannesburg Skyline

GPO Tower even has World Cup fever!!

Johannesburg World Cup Stadium

We past the world cup stadium, but we didnt feel inclined to stop anywhere as we were not sure of our safety. Some pictures are taken near the football stadium these show some of the neighbourhoods we travelled through.

Neighbourhood street scenes

World Cup sign in Johannesburg  Airport

I'm sure that the World Cup will help the people of South Africa, I would like to think so!!

All in all we had a wonderful holiday, and hope to return to SA one day, who knows!

Day 14 Pretoria

This morning we were up for the sunrise, and just had refreshment in our chalets, as it was the last game drive first thing. Then we would have a full breakfast on our return.

Sunrise at Hannah Lodge

Jeff will be supplying pictures for this morning’s game drive. I have a few different pictures starting with a beetle that I noticed outside our chalet, which was about the size of a match box. Then I have what looks like a swallows nest in the eaves of another chalet.

Large Beetle

Swallows Nest

The next pictures took some time to capture as I spent quite some time trying to catch this lovely bird inflight, with its beautiful tail feathers streaming behind him.

Pictures do not do this little bird justice!!

This must have been my bird morning, shame I can't get the pictures that I would like with my camera, but it still reminds me of a wonderful time we all had on this superb holiday.

Large Stork

On our return the breakfast was equally as good as the fabulous meal that we all enjoyed last night, all the food was served in the main restaurant, even wild boar sausages.

It was then time to pack our bags and cases in preparation for our long journey from Ohrigstad to Pretoria which is 326 km.
Last views as we leave a wonderful lodge, which will always remind us of the great time we had here.

Last view of Hannah Game Lodge

The journey was uneventful, we passed through some small villages, the only town of any size before reaching Pretoria was Middelburg, formerly known as Nasareth - meaning 'root from dry land', was established on the farm Sterkfontein in 1866.
Originally a church town, the name was changed in 1872 to Middelburg to mark its situation midway between the two towns of Pretoria and Lydenburg. Across the ridge on the north-western side towards Botshabelo, the township of Mhluzi developed simultaneously and became part of greater Middelburg in 1994. The  noticable thing I recall from Middelburg was the Kees Taljaard Park Stadium where rugby is played which was right in the centre of the town.

Soweto Township , Johannesburg

As we approached Pretoria , there were lots of townships, which reminded us of our first days in Cape Town at the start of this holiday, as there were large townships close to the docks and the outskirts of the city.

Township outside Pretoria

Difficult to explain my  feelings when you see these living conditions that many of the South African natives have to live in. These photographs depict the dreadful living standards that they have to endure.  Then you think of the luxurious standards of living that we have enjoyed over the  past two weeks.  You would hope that it will improve one day, as the wealth that this country has is immense, not only with all the minerals that are mined, oil and gas produced, forestry, farming, and tourism with all the glorious game etc.to name but a few !!

Forever Centurion Hotel Pretoria

Arrived late afternoon at our hotel called Forever Centurion Hotel, one of the more recent additions to the Forever Resorts portfolio of hotels, lodges and resorts is the magnificent Forever Resorts Centurion Hotel. This stylish 4-star hotel is situated in the quiet suburbs of Centurion, Pretoria and has easy access from the OR Tambo Airport, Sandton, Midrand and Pretoria Central.

Franco/Tuscan influence

The building has a warm Franco/Tuscan influence, nestled in lush rose gardens, with a sparkling pool. The four star establishment boasts 48 luxury ensuite rooms of which 4 are inter leading, 2 are suites and 1 is a presidential luxury suite.

Lush Rose Garden

After we had settled in Jeff and Lynn decide to have a siesta. Kath and I went for a drive, but we did not venture too far, as we were unsure of the neighbourhood.  We purchased some champagne and wine for our last evening in South Africa.  We had arranged with Lynn and Jeff to join us in our room  for some aperitifs, before we went down to the restaurant for our evening meal.
Later when Lynn and Jeff joined us, we popped the corks and enjoy a pleasant drink together, to finish our holiday the way that we had started in Cape Town, toasting our holiday together.
Lynn mentioned that she had been watching Sky News on television and that Leven Bridge outside Yarm was closed as the river Leven had burst its banks and damaged the bridge structure. This brought us back to reality as we would soon be home in the wet weather by the sounds of it!

Deserted  hotel Lounge

Unfortunately the hotel was very quiet, as it was the weekend and had little atmosphere, as you can see from the picture of the lounge above.  Once we had finished our meal we returned back up to the second floor to where our rooms were. We had noticed some easy chairs and a coffee table where we could have our final game of cards. I recall that Kath lit some candles, and  I'm sure they were for display purposes only, but who's bothered its our last night.

Cosy rooms

Day 13 Hannah Game Lodge

This morning we were to leave Hippo Hollow after 2 wonderful days and travel a short distance towards Ohrigstad where the Hannah Game Lodge was to be our final game reserve, which lies amongst the gently rolling hills of the Southern African escarpment. This beautiful private game reserve embraces more than 8000 hectares of malaria free, unspoilt African Bushveld countryside.  It has giraffes, leopard, buffalo, zebra as well as lots of different types of antelopes, but no lions as they use this reserve for game hunting and don't want all the antelope eaten by lions, as this obviously brings it a lot of revenue for them from the rich hunters.  The views as we approached the lodge were fantastic, with a large thatched building being the main reception for the lodge with the restaurant to the side of the main foyer.

Approach to Hannah Game Lodge

This looks fantastic !!

After checking in at the reception, we were shown to our chalets, which had these awesome views from our own balconies overlooking the bushveld landscape.

View from our balcony

Once we had unpacked again we decided to drive through to Ohrigstad to have a look round the town and have some lunch.

The bar that we picked was setting up for a charity concert and fund raising for breast cancer, which looked like it was mostly supported by motorcyclists as there was a load of guys and girls which arrived while we were there with their Harley Davidson motorbikes. We sat outside and had burger and fries, I remember that the garden was arranged with small paddocks made up from bales of hay as extra seating with picnic type tables arranged within the make shift paddocks.

 

Today, Ohrigstad is mostly a farming community and a diverse range of crops are produced
The scenic Ohrigstad valley combined with the panorama and an abundance of activities make for the ideal weekend breakaway.  Many enjoy fly-fishing, game viewing, horse riding, hiking and many other exciting activities.
Returned to Hannah Game Lodge for a lazy afternoon after all the travelling over the last few days. The weather was starting to drizzle so we decided to have a game of cards.  We had a game drive planned later in the day so hopefully the weather would improve.

Female Nyala

Gembok also known a Oryx

Gembok also known as Oryx

Female Kudu

The game drives in the low bushveld area, tends to show more species of antelope, but they are very nervous animals and tend to stay well away from 4 x 4 vehicles, but it was good to see them in a different environment. 

Roan Antelope

Roan antelope, the fourth largest antelope species of the African continent.  Not to be confused with the Sable, it is lighter in colour, has shorter horns and long tasselled ears with a clown mask!! Absolutely stunning creature.
Returned back to the chalets in time to shower and change,  then go up to the main building which had that huge thatched roof.
Inside the restaurant the ceiling was even more impressive than the thatch outside. The timbers and trusses were a splendid show of architecture. What a magnificent room to dine in. We looked forward to the menu arriving as this was going to be another special bush meat meal for Jeff and I, with the girls going for something not quite as exotic as Kudu, Impala Ostrich etc.

Hannah Lodge dinning room ceiling

Hannah Lodge dinning room

Pictures don't do the architecture justice

Wine & coffee to finish

Unfortunately we only have one night left, and it will have to be special to top the ambiance, meals and drinks that were served this evening. The staff looked after us all evening and the head game keeper for the lodge kept us entertained with some of his experiences while working at this private game reserve.

                                                           Jeff are you drinking that wine!!
Finally back to our chalets, no cards or sudoku  tonight, time for an early night, as we had another game drive booked for early in the morning.

                                                                 Looks comfortable !!