3 - Pretoria - So Much History!

Today we slept in, had a late breakfast and took a tour of Pretoria, a city of approximately 1 million people, which serves as the administrative capital of South Africa. 

The streets are lined with jacaranda trees that begin blooming in late September and by mid-October, turn the city purple.  As pretty as they are, no one wants to stand under them or park their car under them as the blooms are very sticky.

The weather was beautiful and hot – 91 degrees – but the humidity was less than 20%. Our tour included the Voortrekker Monument, the Paul Kruger House and Museum, Church Square and the Union Buildings.

Our first and most interesting stop was the Voortrekker Monument just outside of town. 

Voortrekkers, (Dutch for Pioneer) were very similar to American pioneers who left their homes and traveled west.  In South Africa, Voortrekkers , who were of Dutch decent, left their homes after the British took over their homelands and traveled north to this part of South Africa in covered wagons, to unsettled lands.  Like our pioneers, who were traveling over rough terrain and taking lands from the American Indians, they had to deal with many hardships including a very treacherous landscape and animals plus they were taking lands from the Zulus.   They had to cross many rivers that are home to numerous crocodiles.  To shield themselves and their livestock from these vicious crocodiles, Voortrekkers would wrap the leaves of cork trees around their legs and the legs of animals when crossing rivers.  The corks leaves emit a poisonous substance when they are wet that if consumed, is deadly to crocodiles.

One of the interesting things in the Monument is the cenotaph (empty tomb) in the center.  The architect designed the memorial so that the sun shines directly on the center of the cenotaph once a year at noon on December 16 to commemorate the battle of Blood River that took place on December 16, 1838 where many Voortrekkers and Zulus died.  The sunlight shines directly on the words “ONS VIR JOU SUIDAFRIKA (we for thee South Africa).  

The Monument contains the largest marble frieze in the world that depicts the story of the Voortrekker's journeys and daily lives.  Below, we captured just one scene on the frieze.  It depicts the Zulu King and the leader of the Voortrekkers signing a peace agreement.  The person kneeling with his hand out catches the spit from the Zulu King because the king's spit was too holy to hit the ground.

We then traveled to the Paul Kruger House and Museum.  Paul Kruger is a revered political and military leader who served as President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. He was exiled to Switzerland after the Boer War with the British.  Kruger National Park, the wildlife refuge we will be visiting next week was named after him.  His home and museum in downtown Pretoria include many artifacts from his era.

Our next stop was Church Square which we saw from the car.  The square is a very historic site in Pretoria.   All presidents prior to Nelson Mandela were sworn in here.  The public funeral ceremony for Paul Kruger was held here and it was here that Nelson Mandela was convicted of Treason in the Judicial building at one end of the square and sentenced to life in prison in 1964.  The reason we stayed in the car is that it is now unsafe to walk around in this area.

Our last stop was at the Union Buildings – a national monument, seat of government and the office of the President designed by the British Architect, Sir Herbert Baker.  There are over 130 embassies surrounding Union Buildings, the second largest concentration of embassies outside of Washington, DC in the world.

We are off to dinner here at the hotel on the beautiful lawn of 131 on Herbert Baker!