Cradle of Humankind

21 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Maropeng Visitors Centre, Gauteng, South Africa © Olga Ernst/cc-by-sa-4.0

Maropeng Visitors Centre, Gauteng, South Africa © Olga Ernst/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Cradle of Humankind is a paleoanthropological site that is located about 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Gauteng province. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999, the site is home to the largest known concentration of human ancestral remains anywhere in the world. The site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (120,000 acres) and contains a complex system of limestone caves. The registered name of the site in the list of World Heritage Sites is Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa.   read more…

Langebaan in South Africa

25 March 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© flickr.com - Domenico Convertini/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Domenico Convertini/cc-by-sa-2.0

Langebaan is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the eastern shore of Langebaan Lagoon. Langebaan is situated 120 km north of Cape Town, just off the R27, about 28 km from Vredenburg and 20 km from Saldanha Bay. The Lagoon stretches for 17 km from Saldanha Bay, past Langebaan to Geelbek in the South. In places it is up to 4 km wide.   read more…

Ponte City in Johannesburg

14 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Inner courtyard © NGunasena WMF/cc-by-sa-4.0

Inner courtyard © NGunasena WMF/cc-by-sa-4.0

Ponte City is a skyscraper in the Berea district of Johannesburg, South Africa, just next to Hillbrow. It was built in 1975 to a height of 173 m (567.6 ft), and was the tallest residential skyscraper in Africa for 48 years, until overtaken in 2023 by Building D01, in Egypt‘s New Administrative Capital. The 55-storey building is cylindrical, with an open centre allowing additional light into the apartments. The centre space is known as “the core” and rises above an uneven rock floor. When built, Ponte City was seen as an extremely desirable address due to its location and views over Johannesburg, but it became infamous for its crime and poor maintenance in the late 1980s to 1990s. It has since been refurbished into a safe property. The neon sign on top of the building is the largest sign in the Southern Hemisphere. Prior to 2000, it advertised the Coca-Cola Company. In 2000, this was replaced by a banner promoting South African branch of Vodacom. Vodacom rebranded in 2023 to advertise VodaPay, a digital wallet system.   read more…

Oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world

28 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

Ostriches © flickr.com - South African Tourism/cc-by-2.0

Ostriches © flickr.com – South African Tourism/cc-by-2.0

Oudtshoorn is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Dubbed the “ostrich capital of the world”, Oudtshoorn is known for its ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1870 and 1900–1914. With approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the Klein Karoo region. The town’s economy is primarily reliant on the ostrich farming and tourism industries.   read more…

Camps Bay in Cape Town

1 July 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Capsol/cc-by-3.0

© Capsol/cc-by-3.0

Camps Bay (Afrikaans: Kampsbaai) is an affluent suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, and the small bay on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula after which it is named. In summer it attracts many South African and foreign visitors.   read more…

Long Street in Cape Town

27 June 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Architecture, Bon appétit, Shopping Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Discott/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Discott/cc-by-sa-3.0

Long Street is a major street located in the City Bowl section of Cape Town, South Africa. It is famous as a bohemian hang out and the street is lined with many book stores, various ethnic restaurants and bars. Restaurants include African restaurants such as Zula, and Indian restaurants such as Masala Dosa. Long Street exhibits a diversified culture and attracts tourists from all over the world. It also has a number of youth hostels which provide accommodation to an international roster of guests. Several theatres which showed anti-apartheid plays were located on the street during the 1970s and 1980s, although most have now closed and been replaced by restaurants or stores.   read more…

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town

1 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, House of the Month, Hotels, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Michael Rowe/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Michael Rowe/cc-by-sa-4.0

Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA opened on September 22, 2017 as the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum is located in the Silo District at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. A retail and hospitality property, the Waterfront receives around 24 million local and international visitors per year.   read more…

Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town

13 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Entrance © Bernard Gagnon/cc-by-sa-4.0

Entrance © Bernard Gagnon/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Castle of Good Hope (Dutch: Kasteel de Goede Hoop, Afrikaans: Kasteel die Goeie Hoop) is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of Table Bay, following land reclamation the fort is now located inland. In 1936 the Castle was declared a historical monument (now a provincial heritage site) and following restorations in the 1980s it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort.   read more…

Cape Town City Hall

1 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Magemu/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Magemu/cc-by-sa-4.0

Cape Town City Hall is a large Edwardian building in Cape Town city centre which was built in 1905. It is located on the Grand Parade to the west of the Castle and is built from honey-coloured oolitic limestone imported from Bath in England.   read more…

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