Pretoria

Monday 23rd April – Final Stage to Pretoria

Our final day on the road dawned fine and clear. I awoke early and wondered around the campsite listening for any sounds that would indicate that someone else was awake. It was not long after sunrise that the still air was shattered by the reverberating sound of a large rifle shot. On the other side of the camp the two remaining donkeys were grazing innocently among the trees. It made me feel nauseous and I realised that I was ready to leave Mabula Game Lodge and get away from this type of mentality.

Our destination for the day was the city of Pretoria, the administrative centre of this half of Africa. The South African parliament sits in Pretoria for 6 months of the year and in Cape Town for the other 6 months, apparently in an attempt to appease both sides of the nation. The actual drive should not have taken too long but we found ourselves hopelessly delayed by massive road works for no less than 60 kilometres. We had to stop frequently and wait for directions to proceed through the dust ahead. This slow progress meant that we did not arrive in Pretoria until late in the afternoon.

Pretoria is a large city with a population of approximately 2 million people. It is a sister city to the larger Johannesburg which is about 40 km away. As we followed the freeway to the city centre I could not help thinking that it looked a lot like Melbourne (or any other modern city for that matter). The Union Building is situated at the highest point in the city and offers a panoramic view over the entire Pretoria region. This imposing building is the official seat of the South African Government. We stopped to admire the view and to wander through the manicured gardens opposite. This also gave us the final opportunity to do some friendly bargain hunting from the traders selling handicrafts in the street. All through the trip I had been admiring the painted ostrich eggs which had been selling in every market place. It was outside the Union Building in Pretoria that I finally became the proud owner of an egg of my own, although I wondered how I would get it safely all the way back to Australia.

We climbed back aboard the bus and drove for another hour or so to our hotel near the airport. It may have been near the airport, but it was not near anything else. We appeared to right in the middle of an industrial zone next to the freeway.
Although the TV in our room did not work, the bed was warm, and it was a nice way to finish our last night in Africa.Read more