Guide to the map
Background
The 2015 study tour, which lasted for just over three weeks, was characterized by the fact that, with a few exceptions, we stayed with South African families. For both the students and the hosts this proved to be very rewarding and we have made wonderful friends in the many parts of the country we passed through.
At Mosselbaai and in Durban the whole group was hosted by the managers of the ATKV resorts.
The tour was made possible by a number of generous sponsors. The Dean of the Faculty of English and the Academic Administration of the University supported the project with generous financial help. In South Africa we received a number of sponsorships, two which have requested that their contributions be anonymous.
The other sponsors were AfriForum [see www.afriforum.co.za/home/], the ATKV [see www.atkv.org.za/ ] and the media giant Naspers through its educational programme [ see http://www.naspersacademy.com ].
Understanding the map
The map marks the basic route of the 8 500 kilometers travelled during the tour. The 2015 study tour was extended to visit parts of South Africa not included on previous trips. We specifically wanted to see both the Limpopo, the border with Zimbabwe, and Cape Agulhas, the southern-most point of Africa. We actually traversed all nine provinces.
We arrived in Gauteng, the richest and smallest province, from where we also departed. However, once we had arrived in Africa we travelled north to Limpopo and only visited Pretoria, Johannesburg and Soweto thereafter.
The descriptions below are very, very basic. But hopefully you will sense something of the magic we experienced.
1. Gauteng
- Arrive and depart > O.R. Tambo International Airport
- Lion Park: Walking with cheetah and petting lion cubs
- Soweto: The Afrikaans project
- A black community crèche
- Vilikazi Street, the heart of Nelson Mandela’s Soweto
- Johannesburg: Gold Reef City, making an underground mine visit
- Apartheid museum
- ATKV Head Office (Sponsor)
- University of Johannesburg -
- Melville, the cosmopolitan trendy suburb
- Wonderful meeting with the Polish Ambassador
- Traditional meal, hosted by AfriForum Youth (Sponsor)
- Voortrekker Monument
- Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn
- Farm stay high in the Zoutpansberg mountain range
- Mapungubwe [the site of a 14th century kingdom]
- The Limpopo River
- Louis Trichardt: Venda artists exhibition
- Thohoyandou: University of Venda
- Bloemfontein: University of the Free State
- [meeting with Rector. Prof. Jonathan Jansen]
- National Afrikaans Literary Museum (NALN) Visit to primary school
- Naval Hill and Mandela statue
- Vrouemonument
- Stay on a sheep farm, taking part in the farming activities
- South Africa’s only Book Town
- Observatory
- The world famous SALT
- Visit to secondary school
- Matjiesfontein The historic Lord Milner Hotel
- Wellington: Street braai; visit to a mosque;
- meal at a township shebeen, Groenberg historical site, wine farm
- Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch, student pubs,
- meeting with the major sponsor
- Franschhoek: Huguenot Monument
- Cape Town: Robben Island
- Table Mountain
- Chapman’s Peak
- Extra-parliamentary actions
- Somerset West: Breakfast with major sponsor, Naspers Academy
- Cape Agulhas
- Southern-most point of Africa
- Hosted by ATKV Hartenbos
- Shark cage diving
- Cango Caves
- Ostrich riding during visit to ostrich farm
- Blaauwkrantz River Gorge > Bungee Jumping
- Addo National Elephant Park - two nights spent in an isolated bush camp
- Grahamstown: 1820 Settlers Monument
- National English Literary Museum [NELM]
- Salem, the world of Coetzee’s Disgrace
- On route to KwaZulu-Natal: Nelson Mandela Museum
- Durban Hosted by the ATKV Natalia
- Hindu Temple
- Old Indian Market
- uShaka Water World
- [Rugby match rained out!]
- Howick Howick Water Fall
On route back to Gauteng passed through a part of Mpumalanga
