Pretoria
Editor’s note: “Thu. Recovered fm flight and had dinner at Lekgottla restaurant.”
Across from our Johannesburg hotel
The hotel provided a fantastic breakfast buffet in the main dining room from 7 am to 9 am. At 9:30 am we departed for the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Pretoria, one of 46 veterinary faculties in Africa, established in 1920, and the only one of its kind in South Africa with the exception of the facilities in Khartoum, Sudan (1938) and Cairo, Egypt (1946). Dr. Henry Annandale, Dean of Clinical Studies, provided the introduction to the school. We then broke up into 3 smaller groups and toured the facilities. Next, we boarded buses and proceeded to Pretoria for lunch at the Blue Crane Restaurant. On the grounds was a 100-year-old tortoise named Wally.
Dr. Henry Annandale
Eray & Simon at dinner
Free face-painting at our table
After lunch we headed to the Voortrekker Monument. Simon and I walked up the 230 stairs to the rotunda, then took an elevator to the very top of the dome. All around the 360-degree rotunda is the complete hand-carved marble Voortrekkers journey, explaining the history. It is a massive granite structure built to honor the early South African pioneers from 1835 to 1852: the British settlers and the Voortrekker settlers.
The Voortrekker Monument
Inside the rotunda of the Voortrekker Monument
Tonight we are free for the evening and plan on walking to the Nelson Mandela Plaza to choose one of the many restaurants for dinner.
