Our prehistoric beginnings can be traced back to the Cradle of Humankind’s caves… I love that kind of statement, especially when said caves are just down the road. Africa has a mystical presence & a very distinct smell, I think. It smells of spice. It feels a bit like the Far East, with dramatic early afternoon storms, but it’s much fresher and drier and it DOES have a red aura about it!
We started day two with a bright pink, toxic looking yoghurt, some cold baked beans, a cup of lukewarm Nescafé and some kind of cow cheek liver curry. Then straight out in the car to see the Union Buildings which sit rather glamorously in the hills above Pretoria. The gardens are immaculately maintained & rather beautiful with a magnificent statue of Nelson Mandela dominating the entrance. I held on to his leg, I thought, for just the right amount of time.
Pretoria is pretty, streets lined with blossoming purple jacaranda trees. There are some real authentic spots away from the plastic, barbed wire residential areas. We took an unscheduled drive through the bus station (twice) where locals were milling about, grilling chicken on skewers, selling wares on makeshift market stalls, moving trade about on carts and carrying a variety of stuff on their heads in a most amazing & perfect manner (one woman was transporting a bale of socks on her head!)
Today was about piecing bits of history together and trying to understand a nation’s cultural journey in the face of some quite appalling adversity. We started at the Voortrekker Monument, getting to grips with a pioneering trek, the ins and outs of an immigrant nation pushing to other area of the country to settle. Then we nipped across to an old fort which housed the most amazing African tree & a really dreadful cultural exhibition which was tired and lonely and involved stuffed dummies.
I was going to have a moan about South Africa’s exhibitions – in Johannesburg we’d made real efforts to get to Constitution Hill & the top of the Carlton Building to enjoy the views, only to be met with really poor signage, entrance confusion, disinterested staff and cracked and peeling story boards which were faded, jaded and seen better days.
I think I know why because it seems like Simon & I are the only tourists in South Africa at the minute interested in any kind of history. Are tourists really so fascinated by the sight of a lion that they can’t be bothered to look under any of the other covers keeping the country warm? We arrived at Freedom Park – again more chance than planning in trying to find it – only to find we were the first and only visitors today to what I can only describe as an incredible exhibition which describes in detail through images, sound, art and creative visual displays the history of South Africa from prehistoric beginnings at the Cradle of Humankind’s caves through to apartheid and the struggle for freedom. How I loved it. My own personal museum.
We then walked up to the Peace Memorial to enjoy more views and the beginning of a cracking storm!
On the walk down, despite being treated to a veritable feast of flora and fauna including an avocado tree, olive trees and the most entertaining of birds with bright yellow feathers, I was face to face with a real life Meerkat who scurried out of a hole, darted in front of us, slipped into a field and then stood up to look back at us.
Travelling in South Africa. Simples!
Mags Winthrop Blog 