Pretoria Travel Guide

 CatherineReichardt Says:  It took me a quarter of a century to visit the Paul Kruger House in Pretoria, and even then, I visited on a whim because I had an hour to kill over lunchtime between business meetings. So, faced with the choice between feeding my face and feeding my mind (and VT pages), I... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  Heroes' Acre in Pretoria's Church Street cemetery is a fascinating place which is almost impossible to write about without risking the ire of the VT censor.Heroes' Acre is the last resting place of some of the most influential figures in South Africa's pre-democratic... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  The Vredefort Dome, to the south of Johannesburg is a meteorite impact crater that has been granted World Heritage status in the last couple of years: however, very few people are aware that there is a second meteorite crater in the area, which is, for my money, much more... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  Anyone who has read some of my other pages will know that I have a particular weakness for municipal art, and that sculpture is the form of artistic expression that I like and understand best.I am saddened that I have yet to find out anything more about this huge metal... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  The grotesque holds a particular appeal for me, so when I saw the opportunity to photograph the two ugliest buildings on the Pretoria skyline in a single frame, I grabbed it with both hands!I find that I'm unwittingly writing quite extensively about TV towers in one context... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  Church Square is one of the few places in the Pretoria CBD where you can get a sense of how Pretoria must have looked a century ago, and, as a result, is often used as a set for local period movies and TV series.The Square is surrounded by important civic buildings,... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  The Transvaal Museum (now Ditsong) is chronically underresourced, and has clearly seen much better days. Which is a great pity, as some of the exhibits - such as the coelocanth and the hominid exhibit- are world class but time worn, and deserve to be displayed in a manner... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  Pretoria Zoo is located just north of the CBD and is a good zoo, particularly by developing world standards. However, over the past couple of decades, seems to have been somewhat left behind by its southerly neighbour in Johannesburg. Whereas Johannesburg Zoo seems to have... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  Hatfield is Pretoria's student quarter, and as any self-respecting budget traveller will know, if you're travelling on a shoestring budget, the best way to eat affordably is to go where the equally impoverished students go!The main street in Hatfield is pretty well... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  I have to admit to being surprised at how well located the Gautrain station (and terminus) in Hatfield is.The obvious drawcard is the proximity to the University of Pretoria campus and to the affordable student hangouts along Burnett and Duncan streets (see my tip on... 

 Bushman23 Says:  Just North of Pretoria lies the Tswaing meteorite crater & visitor center, site of one of the youngest large meteor impacts on Earth. Dating back about 220 000 years, the site ofers an informative museum, some marvelous hiking, and the option of a very clued-up guide to take... 

 CatherineReichardt Says:  South Africans are fanatical about sport (in my experience, only Aussies come close in terms of their sports obsession), and among white South Africans, rugby is not a sport, but a religion! Until I moved to South Africa, I couldn't see the logic behind the sports boycott...