Trekking like a Voortrekker

GPS navigator is a wonderful gadget. Just pick a location you want to go and it will give you directions and guide you while driving. Above all, it doesn't get mad after taking a wrong turn.. The little technological wonder has allowed us to explore and see different, yet fascinating things in this wonderful country.

Our contact person from Nokia suggested that we should spend the weekend orienting to our surroundings. And that we have. With our rental car, cheap gasoline and GPS navigation at our service, we have seen the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria, wealthy malls in Sandton and the streets of downtown Pretoria. All this within two days..

After the meeting with the other group we started to plan something to do for Sunday. After quick wiki we decided to visit the Voortrekker monument, built in memory for the European settlers who came here in 1830's in search for fertile farming lands and bright future.
The monument was build on top of a hill in 1940's in the Art Deco style. The monument itself was quite impressive not to mention the beautiful scenery that opened from the top viewing neighbouring surroundings. Inside the monument, museum enlightened us about the history of these pioneers.

After visiting the monument, we picked a random spot on Sandton near Johannesburg in hope of finding a place to dine. After stepping out of the parking hall, we encountered a huge bronze statue which turned out to portray Nelson Mandela himself. To our surprise there happened to be a charity event, in which supposed celebrities played football in a tournament in the middle of the square. Around the square there were restaurants in which people were watching the event. Since we didn't really care to stay there among so many people we decided to head in the depths of the shopping mall. All the luxury clothes and electronics stores were closed, but we managed to find a nice looking Italian restaurant, in which we decided to eat. The food was quite good and above all it was not that expensive. Overall, the last few days have gone quite nicely without any major problems.


-Anton-