Our journey today took us from our hotel in Johannesburg on a drive through Pretoria, where we took in bird-poop covered statues, to Dullstroom for lunch at the Mayfly Restaurant, then the Die Longtoms, and and finally to our resting stop for the night Pilgram's Rest. Tomorrow will be Blyde River Canyon and the greater Drakensberg escarpment leading into Kruger National Park.
Pretoria is one of three capital cities in South Africa and is where the executive branch of government is located. Like Johannesburg, the city of Pretoria is lined with old historical buildings and jacaranda trees. The Gautrain high-speed railway line runs from the eastern suburbs to and from OR Tambo International Airport.
While Pretoria still has a white majority, as was present during Apartheid, Northern Sothos (people from Botswana, Lesotho, and northern South Africa) are an increasing black middle class, now representing over 40% of the population. On May 2005, the South African Geographical Names Council approved changing the name of Pretoria to Tshwane. The official change has yet to be approved by the Minister of Arts and Culture.
In Pretoria, our first stop was at Church Square. Since we were traveling to Kruger Park, our tour guide used this as an opportunity for us to understand the significance of the man who has generated so much controversy, both while alive and currently.
Paul Kruger was the president of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. Kruger became famous for leading the Boers against the British at the time of the Second Boer War. Boers, commonly known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of southern Africa. Kruger died July 1904 in Switzerland, where he had been exiled. Subsequently, Kruger's remains were returned to Pretoria at the time of his burial.
In Church Square, the historic center of Pretoria, stands its most prominent feature, the statue of Paul Kruger. However, academic opinion on Kruger is divided. To his admirers he was a tragic folk hero who defended the nation; to critics he was "a guardian of an unjust cause and an oppressor of black Africans", even though he predated apartheid by more than half a century. Like so many countries who become vocal about past injustices, South Africa debates whether statues of white domination should be removed or kept as reminders of a harsh past. As we walked around Church Square, and photographed Paul Kruger, it was striking to see the enormous amount of bird poop on the top hat, face and shoulders of the man and his legacy.
Our final stop in Pretoria was the Union Buildings. These buildingsorm the official seat of the South African Government and also house the offices of the President of South Africa.
We continued on the drive northeast across the Crocodile River toward Long Tom Pass. Our destination was a tour of Die (those) Long Toms. The Long Toms are French siege guns (artillery pieces) which were used by the Boers in the Second Boer War. In all, there were four guns, along with 4,000 common shells, 4,000 shrapnel shells and 800 case shots purchased in 1897. The guns were placed in four forts around Pretoria during the war.
I put my foot on top of the ammunition to provide an idea of how large the shells are.
During the early stages of the war these guns gave the Boers an advantage. The Lon Toms had a longer range than any British guns that were deployed in South Africa at the time. The Boers eventually ran out of the Long Tom ammunition. Subsequently, the war ended when the Boer leadership surrendered and accepted British terms with the Treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902.
We continued on our journey to Dullstroom, a small town in Mpumalanga province, best known for its horse riding trails, fly-fishing, scenic hikes, and picnic spots beside magnificent waterfalls. Nevertheless, we went to the town to eat lunch at the Mayfly Restaurant. At the same time, we had the opportunity to learn more about the three other couples who were also on the tour.
After lunch completed our final drive to Pilgram's Rest.
As we drove into the town of Pilgram's Rest, there was the sense that while the outside world progressed, time had stopped here, a long time ago. Once a gold panning field, then a mining town, Pilgram's Rest is now a heritage site and small museum town. In the 1970's, the town was sold to the government as a national museum. Pilgram's Rest remains largely unchanged since the mining era. There is an information center, a general store, a auto service garage complete with an old-fashioned gas pump, an old telephone booth, mining equipment, and the Royal Hotel, which was our accommodation for the night.
Before the evening group dinner, we walked the 2 blocks of the main street and photographed this UNESCO heritage town. While walking, we noticed what appeared to be a scarecrow. At first, the scarecrow was very still, but then seemed to move. When we stopped to get a closer looked, a small head popped out. I asked, what is your name? The scarecrow replied, "I'm James." We had a good laugh and I asked James if it would be okay to take his photo? He nodded yes, and posed happily for me.
Later that evening, we talked about our encounter with James, the scarecrow. He was the highlight of Pilgram's Rest.
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