Pretoria
‘Jacaranda city’
Wild nostalgia!
We just got back from Pretoria. It’s 22 years since we were last there. We had left Zambia’s N.W Province and flown from Lusaka to Jo’Burg.
We stayed at a backpackers place and organised our travel to Cape Town. Our cases and rucksacks were full of luggage. We were full of energy and hope. Could we make a plan to stay in the Mother City?
I can remember exactly the amount of luggage that we had after nearly two years in Zambia, a total of 93 kilos! Amusingly the man at the check-in desk in Lusaka had said to me “Madame, you are heavy”. We knew what he was trying to say. Thanks to all the business travellers moving with only a briefcase that day, we didn’t hear anything of our excessive luggage again.
Back then Pretoria had wowed us. After living in a bush town, everything was impressive; going out for a cappuccino, ordering a delivery pizza and strolling through Menlyn mall, the biggest mall in the Southern Hemisphere at that time.
We planned to go to Cape Town and hoped so much to find a way to stay. We didn’t have much information. We didn’t know anyone to advise us. Looking back we knew ‘fokol’. But we knew that we both loved the Mother City and wanted to find a way to stay. We just had to go research.
After one week at a backpacker’s place we travelled by train to Cape Town. It is still the best train journey that we ever did, for the ever changing landscape from Gauteng, all the way down into the Western Cape.
This visit to Pretoria was very different. We booked a comfy bed and breakfast lodge, in a nice, leafy suburb. We were travelling for the Springboks game, so that was the focus of the trip.
But aside from the rugby at Pretoria’s epic Loftus Versfeld Stadium, we escaped from the city. We made a beeline for the cable car at Harteesport Dam, to take in the epic views and do the ‘Dassie Walk’ at the top. And we visited Rietvlei Nature reserve as well.
Many years have passed since that arrival in South Africa. But being here had me reflect on that time, on our optimism and our determination to stay.
We spoke of “what if?” Leaving South Africa was never an option for us.
We just got back from Pretoria. It’s 22 years since we were last there. We had left Zambia’s N.W Province and flown from Lusaka to Jo’Burg.
We stayed at a backpackers place and organised our travel to Cape Town. Our cases and rucksacks were full of luggage. We were full of energy and hope. Could we make a plan to stay in the Mother City?
I can remember exactly the amount of luggage that we had after nearly two years in Zambia, a total of 93 kilos! Amusingly the man at the check-in desk in Lusaka had said to me “Madame, you are heavy”. We knew what he was trying to say. Thanks to all the business travellers moving with only a briefcase that day, we didn’t hear anything of our excessive luggage again.
Back then Pretoria had wowed us. After living in a bush town, everything was impressive; going out for a cappuccino, ordering a delivery pizza and strolling through Menlyn mall, the biggest mall in the Southern Hemisphere at that time.
We planned to go to Cape Town and hoped so much to find a way to stay. We didn’t have much information. We didn’t know anyone to advise us. Looking back we knew ‘fokol’. But we knew that we both loved the Mother City and wanted to find a way to stay. We just had to go research.
After one week at a backpacker’s place we travelled by train to Cape Town. It is still the best train journey that we ever did, for the ever changing landscape from Gauteng, all the way down into the Western Cape.
This visit to Pretoria was very different. We booked a comfy bed and breakfast lodge, in a nice, leafy suburb. We were travelling for the Springboks game, so that was the focus of the trip.
But aside from the rugby at Pretoria’s epic Loftus Versfeld Stadium, we escaped from the city. We made a beeline for the cable car at Harteesport Dam, to take in the epic views and do the ‘Dassie Walk’ at the top. And we visited Rietvlei Nature reserve as well.
Many years have passed since that arrival in South Africa. But being here had me reflect on that time, on our optimism and our determination to stay.
We spoke of “what if?” Leaving South Africa was never an option for us.
Which city makes you think back to a time of great change for you?
©Maggie M / Mother City Time