Voortrekker Monument

The Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria, South Africa. Built to commemorate the trek of the Voortrekkers from the Cape to the interior. The Voortrekkers refused to live under British rule and treked into the interior of Africa, hoping to establish a republic under their own rule. 

Clarens

Picture of shops in Clarens, Free State. South Africa. A visit to Clarens is certainly worth the effort.

Church Window

One of the windows of the little church in Belvidere, South Cape. A pity that few churches are built with walls and windows like these these days.

Bedford View apartments

A block of apartments on the border of upmarket Bedford View, Gauteng, South Africa. Looking at these apartments brought the concept of being 'pigeonholed' to mind.  

The inside of the little church featured in my post dated March 2013. It is small but somehow special. I guess I just like small churches better than bigger ones.   

Belvidere Church

 

The little  church in Belvidere, South Cape. I attend a 'macro' church in the city. But this is what a church should look and feel like. 

Melrose Arch

Another picture taken at Melrose Arch, Johannesburg.

Melrose Arch

This is a picture of a section of Melrose Arch an upmarket shopping centre near Johannesburg, South Africa. This is probably the best known part of the centre.

Ponte Building

I believe in limited editing, enhancing rather than changing the picture. For once I pushed the limits of my editing tools and liked the result.

Ponte Building

This is the Ponte building in Johannesburg, South Africa. At 173 metre (54 floors) it is the tallest residential building in South Africa. It is cylindrical to allow air and light into the residential units from the inside. It was completed during 1976 but was infested by a number of gangs during the 1980’s. This situation worsened during the 1990’s. There were even rumors of plans to turn the building into a prison. From the 2000’s attempts were made to reclaim and revamp the building. Rumors are sometimes worse than reality. There were many rumors that the first three to five floors were filled with garbage from the top floors.

There were various news papers speculating on the sale of the building and plans to convert the living units to up-market apartments. As can be seen from the picture it will be technically possible to construct an entrance into the parking garage directly from the main roads passing the building. The economic downturn apparently scuttled these plans.

I would like to see the building restored to its formal glory. The expected return on the cost to acquire and revamp the building would however send most financiers running for cover. It is a well known and integral part of the Johannesburg skyline. The Vodacom advert at the top of the building would probably add +/- R 18 000 000 to the value of the building. (My calculation based on the capitalized value of the potential income derived from the advertising rights.)

It is as a pity that bean counters (I am one myself) can sometimes scuttle the most beautiful dreams. Currently the building belongs to the Kemtston group. Apparently penthouse apartments are still available at a reasonable rate.

Old mine house

Some more pictures of the old mining house near Etwatwa. One of the pictures shows three round openings in the concrete slab between the ground and first floor. They are right above the fire place. I presume they were created to allow heat from the fire place to circulate to the first floor. The other two photos show the corridor and window of one of the living units.

Old mine house

I drove past this old house on my way to Etwatwa on the East Rand. It is on farm land but I presume it used to belong to one of the old mines that were active in the area many years ago as it is located near an old mine shaft. It consists of two or four residential units. I could not confirm as I could not get to the top story. The stairs were on the outside and are not there any more. None of the downstairs units has a bathroom. Outside is a small square building, +/- 1,5m x 1,5m that used to be an outside toilet. In Afrikaans it used to be called a “kleinhuisie”, literally translated as “small house”. I took some more pictures of the inside of the house. I will publish these in my next post.

Sandton

This is a picture of a section of Sandton, South Africa. Sandton forms part of a collection of suburbs to the north of Johannesburg, known as the Northern Suburbs. The Corporate Head Offices of various businesses used to be located in and around the Johannesburg CBD. Business owners and high level managers used to live in the Northern Suburbs while lower ranked employees used to live closer to the city itself. With time development moved to the Northern Suburbs. Sandon has developed into a major business hub incorporating office towers, shopping centers and residential estates. Traffic can be a nightmare.

Telkom Tower 2010 World Cup

The Telkom Tower in Hillbrow, Johannesbyrg dressed up for the World Cup. Photo taken from Honey Street, near to where I photographed some of the street art included elsewhere in my blog. The first game kicks off today, South Africa against Mexico. http://www.coismeyer.com

1855 St George's Church

This is the smaller of the two churches on the shady stand in the middle of the town of Knysna, South Africa. There are a number of graves around the church. Some bears what appears to be a royal coat of arms and bears the family name “Rex”. Legend has it that the then King of England banned his illegitimate son to South Africa to avoid embarrassment back in England. George Rex did a lot of good for the community, playing a roll in amongst other the development of the harbor at the Knysna Lagoon. Today the harbor is used mainly by pleasure craft. Craft entering the Lagoon has to pass through a narrow channel. Navigation is tricky due to the fast moving current that passes through the channel due to tide movement. The South African Navy still visits the harbor from time to time for ceremonial purposes. http://www.coismeyer.com/

Graaff Reinette Church

The town of Graaff Reinette in the Karoo is dominated by this Church. I took this picture early one morning while traveling back to Johannesburg from the Cape. It is a beautiful town rich with history, museums and old buildings.

Old house in Johannesburg

I came across this old house in an old part of Johannesburg. Many years ago this must have been someones pride and joy, sitting around this fire place on a cold winter evening.

Refuse removal strike

Yeoville, Berea and Hillbrow are high density residential areas in the heart of Johannesburg. A two week strike by municipal workers ended recently. Rubbish has not been removed for the duration of the strike. People in flats have nowhere to go with their rubbish, thus the rubbish ends up at collection points in the streets.

Mandela's prison cell

This is the furniture inside Nelson Mandela's cell in the Robbin Island prison. To the left is a toilet bucket. Next to the toilet bucket a table / chair and eating utensils. To the right of that a bed roll. Due to international pressure the bed roll was eventually replaced with a simple bunk style bed.

Robbin Island Prison

The entrance to the Robbin Island prison complex.