“If thou would’st view fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by the pale moonlight;” – from Canto Second of the “Lay of the Last Minstrel” by Sir Walter Scott. It is not really necessary (though not a bad idea either – though you...
On 10 May 2011 a musician described by the Johannesburg newspaper The Star as “The most visible, hardest working younger man in jazz” died of a stroke at the age of 52. A bitter loss to serious music lovers in South Africa. Born on 25 December 1959 Zim...
A scheme to provide employment to many otherwise unemployed people during the Great Depression of the late 1920s has developed into a wonderful nature reserve where zebras, birds, buck and vegetation abound in peace. The Rietvlei Dam Nature Reserve to the east of...
After the dreadful sufferings of the people of Southern Africa in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 there was widespread support for the unification of the four British colonies which had been involved in the conflict – the Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange...
Botanical gardens are always interesting and beautiful. The National Botanical Gardens in Pretoria are no exception, and provide a lovely setting for concerts and picnics into the bargain! The gardens are different from most in that two fairly distinct climatic...
Just north of the Magaliesberg range which thrusts into Pretoria is the Wonderboom Nature Reserve, so called because of the huge 1000-year-old Ficus (wild fig) tree growing there. When in the late 19th Century the authorities of the then Zuid Afrikaansche...
Surrounded by suburban homes and high-rise blocks of apartments in the eastern Pretoria suburb of Lynnwoood Glen lies a peaceful bird sanctuary and dam called Struben Dam. The sanctuary is home to a number of bird species while the dam is populated with carp,...
In the bustling centre of South Africa’s Capital City, Pretoria, is a beautiful botanical garden where people relax under colourful flowering trees surrounded by signs of the history of the city. Burgers Park came about as a result of the dream of...
Below a typical Highveld “koppie” in the little town of Irene just outside Pretoria is the unpretentious house that for more than half a century was home to one of South Africa’s greatest and most controversial sons, Jan Smuts. Smuts bought...
Nestled on the side of a koppie (hill) to the east of Pretoria is a unique art gallery under a grove of trees. Started some 16 years ago by Croatian-born Thea Nigrini and named for her late mother, the Tina Skukan Gallery is as individual as its founder. Thea has been...
