Pretoria

On Wednesday we slept late and then picked up a rental car and drove to Pretoria.  Pretoria is the administrative capitol of South Africa, and has a lot of government buildings and government employees.  The city center isn't particularly attractive, but we stayed in a northern suburb in a lovely cabin with a thatched roof - the Zebra Chalet (Zebra pillows, pictures, etc. but no live zebras).

Nick on the Porch of the Zebra Chalet

  In Pretoria, we visited the Voortrekker Monument, which bills itself as the largest monument in Africa (but what about the pyramids?)  It actually is extremely large and visible from much of Pretoria.  It's also somewhat controversial.  It was completed in 1949,  just as the extremist advocates of apartheid were taking control of the government, and celebrates the Great Trek of the (mainly) Dutch settlers who left the Cape Colony and trekked northward to escape British taxes and British abolishionists, stopping to annihilate some of the natives on the way.

The Voortrekker Monument

Replica of a Voortrekker Covered Wagon

The Freedom Park in Pretoria offers something of a counterbalance to the Voortrekker Monument. The park contains a very large museum with extensive exhibits detailing mankind's African origins and the history of Black Africans up to the present day.  The park also includes a large outdoor section honoring and commemorating those who struggled for freedom.

One of the Many Exhibits, Freedom Park

Ampitheater, Freedom Park

Eternal Flame, Freedom Park

Freedom Park is located on a rise above an entirely Black and relatively poor section of Pretoria.  A few of the houses had fences; most did not.  In the area we stayed, the far-more substantial homes were entirely behind high fences and gated.  We picked up some items in a large supermarket in the neighborhood.  All of the signs were in Afrikaans; all of the shoppers were White and all of the workers were Black.