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Calendar
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| HIGHVELD THUNDER |
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Gautenger’s love to remind all their coastal and lowveld neighbours that there is nothing like the good old Highveld thunderstorms, which builds up in the blue sky like fluffy balls of cotton wool then tossed together, growing in size and getting more ominous until the tension is released with flashes of lightning and roars of thunder. If you’re a Highvelder, claim it; if not indulge them – there is something special about the smell of ozone before, and the water evaporating from the tar after a pounding Highveld storm. |
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| LEST WE FORGET, VISIT THE APARTHEID MUSEUM IN JOBURG |
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A Visit to the Apartheid Museum where most of the displays are audiovisual is harrowing and overwhelming. Those who grew up during apartheid should visit for an unsensored look at the government-sanctioned racism, for the film footage the world saw but South Africa didn’t; those born since the introduction of democracy should be taken to understand the forces that have shaped our nation. You can also make a recording of your own experiences under apartheid and donate items that are now ‘historical artefacts’, such as passbooks and photographs. Pack Antjie Krog’s Country of my Skull as your reading for the trip; her heart as a poet comes forth in her account of Truth and Reconciliation hearings, with quotes such as General Constand Viljoen saying: ‘We all used violence to get what we wanted. The terror of the tyrant invited the terror of the revolutionary’. |
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http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/ |
| LIVE THROUGH SOUTH AFRICA'S CULTURAL HISTORY AT MUSEUMAFRICA IN JOBURG |
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From the outside the building housing Museum Africa still looks as it did when it was built in 1913 as a fruit-and-vegetable market. But inside it’s very modern: pillars driven into the soil support several floors which don’t connect to the building’s original outer skin. The museum’s exhibits have been accumulated since the early 1930s; today it’s South Africa’s premier cultural history museum. The focus of the permanent exhibitions is on urban life in Joburg through the various eras of South Africa’s history. |
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| TAKE A TOWNSHIP TRIP TO EXPERIENCE SOUTH AFRICAN-STYLE INGENUITY |
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A township tour is an awe-inspiring experience. Soweto is perhaps the country’s best known township, and a visit will leave you wondering why you didn’t do it years ago. From the multi-million rand mansions to the most fragile of shacks, past the barber shops, pavement stalls, down the street where Archbishop Desmond Tutu lives, past the soccer stadiums and the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. A highlight is Nelson Mandela’s house from the 1960’s, now run as a museum by his second wife, Winnie. |
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| TOUR THE STERKFONTEIN CAVES |
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Take a tour through the Sterkfontein Caves in the Cradle of Humankind to discover more about our ancestors. One of South Africa’s first World Heritage Sites, the Cradle of Humankind is one of the world’s most productive palaeo-anthropological sites and boasts some of the greatest discoveries concerning human evolution including Mrs Ples, the first adult ape-human and Little Foot, and almost complete skeleton of an ape-man |
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| NOT A CONGRETE JUNGLE |
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You’d imagine Joburg, the financial centre of South Africa, to be hard and concrete with hardly any tree in sight. Wrong. The city claims to be the largest man-made forest in the world – it’s estimated there are more than six million trees growing within the city limits. 1,2 million trees grow on pavements and in parks; the rest grow in private gardens. Impressive, considering that when the city’s first inhabitants arrived there was hardly a tree to be seen anywhere. |
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| GOLD REEF CITY |
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Go down a mine at Gold Reef City in Johannesburg at a mining ‘theme park’ set at the turn of the 20th century. Have a cold beer in an underground pub and taste the bravery of mine workers. |
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| MONTE CASINO |
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Get a taste if Italy by ambling through Monte Casino, in Fourways, which was built to resemble a rustic Tuscan hilltop village. (Though with the lights of more than a 1700 slot machines and some 70 gambling tables). Or window shop and enjoy a meal at one of the many fine establishments. If fake Tuscan doesn’t ruin your appetite |
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| SANDTON CITY MALL |
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Get lost among the more than 300 shops at Sandton City mall – but watch what you wear: even the kiddies lounging in the fast food court wear nothing but designer labels. If the shop lights and label sporting people make you claustrophobic, go for lunch at the impressive Nelson Mandela Square |
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| JOBURG ZOO |
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For the fast food version of wildlife, go to Joburg Zoo where you can see many animals that are either difficult to see in the bush because they hide in the trees and grasses, or unfamiliar because they come from different countries. The animals (there are 2000 of them in 380 species) live in enclosures, but they are well looked after. The gorillas are especially fun to watch. |
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| PRIDE OF AFRICA |
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Train – lovers claim the Pride of Africa is the world’s best train trip: during 2 weeks the Rovos Rail train covers a luxurious 6400 km’s from Cape Town to Dar es Salaam. After winding its way up from Cape Town to Johannesburg, it heads over the Limpopo, through Hwange, past the Victoria Falls and onto Lusaka. After fringing the Kafue National Park, the train ambles for 2 days though Zambia and Tanzania before dropping into the Rift Valley and onto Dar es Salaam. Travelling in a royal Suite more than a brand new small car but, it’s definitely worth it. |
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