A while ago I had the privilege to go on the ultimate adventure hot air ballooning with Bill Harrop near Magaliesberg north of Johannesburg. I have posted two pics of it before (Hot Air Ballooning), but wanted to show of a couple more pics from the experience.If you would like to see more pics featuring the sky by photographers from all over the world, visit the good people at Skywatch.
Very few visitors to the Voortrekker Monument outside Pretoria takes an extra couple of minutes to visit Fort Schanskop on the opposite hill. The fort was one of three erected around Pretoria in 1896 after the Jameson Raid and was designed by French military engineer Leon Grunberg. In 1895 the friction between the Cape Colony and the Transvaal (South African Republic) under Paul Kruger in the north worsened. An uprising was organised in the Transvaal to accompany a planned invasion…
The Voortrekker Monument stands on top of a hill outside the city of Pretoria and can be seen from all directions as one approaches it. The monument was opened in 1949 and stands 40 meters long, 40 meters wide and 40 meters high. This massive granite structure was built in honour of the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1853 to get away from British rule and find land to call their own.Surrounding the monument building is…
People who live around Johannesburg are probably used to seeing mine towers and mine dumps, but us peeps from down at the coast aren't. This meant that when I got to visit the Cullinan diamond mine close to Pretoria north of Johannesburg a little while ago it was like discovering a whole new world. The thing that literally stands out like a sore thumb at a mine is the mine tower. Below are two different angles of the tower at…
I took this pic in Soweto, Johannesburg a while ago and the more I look at it the more I think I should go out and try to take more of these kind of pics. The funny thing about the picture is that I keep on thinking I have to spot the difference between the two sides. So spotting the differences on the right:there is a person standing in itthe writing on the window is differentCoke signs on the fridgesmore…
Today I am posting another of the pics I took when I was in Johannesburg recently.The Hillbrow Tower is the highest structure in Johannesburg, and is probably the city's most recognisable landmark. The tower was completed in 1971, and is 269m high. It is interesting to note that the height of the Hillbrow Tower is virtually the same as the length of the Titanic.
I don't think I've been to a proper zoo since I was 11 years old and we visited the Pretoria Zoo while in the old Transvaal to visit relatives (actual people and not zoo primates). On my recent stay in Johannesburg I decided to take a free morning and head down the M1 to the Johannesburg Zoo to see what it is about.The Zoo is situated surprisingly close to the Johannesburg City Centre. Established in 1904, it has traditionally been…
Ok, so this one is a bit tongue in cheek. But heck, its Saturday night and we don't want anything too serious. On my recent visit to Johannesburg we walked past this curio shop in the Nelson Mandela Square mall section of the of Sandton City every night after dinner. To stop would be thieves from carrying the hippo away, it gets chained to the door. I felt so sorry for it. Shame, poor hippo.
While visiting Janet and Mr P (Greetings from Gauteng) for lunch during my Johannesburg trip, I asked them for suggestions on things to do while in the area. Mr P suggested I look up Liliesleaf Farm close to Sandton.Liliesleaf Farm was purchased through an overseas contact of the SA Communist Party to be used in secret by African National Congress activists in the 1960s. A white family was put in the main house as a front while activists came and…
Connected to the Sandton City Shopping Centre and Nelson Mandela Square is the exquisite Michelangelo Towers. One of Sandton's landmark buildings and rising an impressive 143 metres above the Sandton skyline, the Towers offers panoramic views of the Magaliesberg and Gauteng. It consists of an all-suite hotel and boasts its own shopping mall. We stayed at the hotel across the road and every morning walked through the Michelangelo Towers Mall to get to our exhibit stand. The shops in the…