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The Fourth Raadsaal

Bloemfontein in the Free State has a collection of beautiful historic buildings and statues all situated in the centre of town.  The one I liked the most on my recent visit was the Fourth Raadsaal. The foundation stone was laid by then Orange Free State President F. W. Reitz in 1890 and the building was completed in 1893. It is a Renaissance-style building in red brick with a prominent dome and a portico of Ionic columns. The last session of the Parliament…

5 Comments
06/10/2010
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Bloemfontein from Naval Hill

The city of Bloemfontein (Bloem meaning bloom or flower and fontein meaning fountain) is the capital of the Free State province and is situated roughly in the centre of South Africa.  The city's nickname is the City of Roses (although there wasn't really any roses in bloom around at the time of my visit. Perhaps I was in the wrong part of town for it) and its also the judicial capital of South Africa as this is where the country's Supreme Court…

3 Comments
05/10/2010
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Rudolph Street Mosque

Standing at the bottom of Walmer Boulavard is one of two mosques that survived the demolition of old South End.  In the early 1890's Imam Jalaludien Abrahams, together with his trustees, set about the task of having a mosque built as this was much needed in the area then. In 1893 the land was transferred to the Trust and the Mosque of Righteousness was completed in 1894.

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04/10/2010
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Gariep Dam revisited

Two years ago we camped at the Forever Resorts' Gariep Dam Resort and had a marvelous time in the sun and next to the pool.  Afterwards I did this post on the dam.  Last week we headed for Gauteng for Chaos Boy to compete in the SA Trampoline Championships and stopped at the Gariep Dam on the way up to stretch our legs and have a breakfast picnic.The Gariep Dam was commissioned in 1971 and was originally called the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam.  After the…

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04/10/2010
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Old Walmer Road

In the days of old South End before most of it was demolished and the people forcibly removed from the area, Walmer Road was the main road running through South End towards the suburb of Walmer.  In those days the main hotels and businesses of the area was found along this road.  Today only a small section of this old road is still visible at the top of Pier Street.  It leads through an open piece of land and is…

6 Comments
03/10/2010
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Sand shark

I found this shark washed up on the beach a little while ago and the first thought that crossed my mind was that it's a sand shark. There are actual sharks called sand sharks, but that's not why I thought it. Sand shark. Get it?

4 Comments
03/10/2010
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Windpomp

One of the iconic rural countryside objects of South Africa is the windpomp (wind pump).  Windpompe is used to extract water from boreholes and can be found (working or not) on all our highways and byways around South Africa's countryside.  This one I photographed on one of the game reserves just outside Port Elizabeth.

7 Comments
02/10/2010