Born2Wonder: South Africa Day 1 & 2: Pretoria

Today was our first full day in South Africa, after arriving late last night. We had a leisurely morning, sleeping late, repacking luggage (for a room change), and enjoying a delicious breakfast.

At 10 am, we started our tour of Pretoria with our excellent guide Vuyo. He was a wealth of knowledge about the ancient peoples in Africa as well as the history of Europeans in South Africa and the causes and impacts of the Boer wars, and he had clear and insightful observations about how the current society evolved.

Zebras and Wildebeests.

We also saw some farm animals at the Trek site

Our first stop was the Voortrekker Monument, which commemorates the movement of some of the Boer population into the interior of the country because they wanted to start a new life free from the British domination of the coastal settlements. We were interested in visiting this monument because of the parallels and differences with the wagon trains we saw on the Oregon Trail last summer. We also saw a lot of parallels between technologies we saw used by Mongolia nomads and ones used by the Boer farmers in the 17-19th centuries in South Africa.

Knuckle bone toy and device for softening leather for reins and bridles, very similar to Mongolian nomads.

Although the Voortrekkers numbered only about 2700 people, their story had a big impact on the history of the country, as much of their actions were taken to avoid or in reaction to British Imperialism. At the huge Voortrekkers Monument, which dominates the landscaper for miles around, we followed the whole story of the trek to the interior and the lethal encounters with the tribes who inhabited the land the Boers were trying to claim for themselves through the bas relief friezes in the monument.

Depiction of the trekkers traveling with their herds.

After several setbacks and suffering from malaria, the males settlers looking down to show discouragement, but the women with heads up are looking forwards.

We especially like this one of the women managing and defending the homesteads while the men are away fighting.

We also enjoyed the lovely view of the city.

Next we headed to downtown Pretoria to see historic buildings in that area and enjoy the jacarandas just coming into bloom. We toured Paul Kruger’s house. Kruger, who was president of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900, was the last president of the Republic before it was annexed by the British. We learned about his struggle to get support for his country from other Europeans during the Second Boer war, but no one had the inclination to go against the British. The house, which had the original furnishings, was a snapshot of a wealthy family’s home at the turn of the century.

The last stop was at the top of the hill where the South African Parliament buildings and Union Public Gardens are located. The impressive gardens were created in a former quarry and had tiers of grass and flowers leading down to the street below where there was an enormous statue of Nelson Mandela. It was a beautiful afternoon. We especially enjoyed the view of the city, purple with jacaranda trees.