Shopping for groceries was first on the list as I promised Daleen I would cook supper the rest of the week so she could have a rest. That done, we went to seek Naval Hill. Johan has been to Bloemfontein many times over the years and knows his way around many of the main city streets but was not sure of the way to Naval hill and the Franklin nature reserve. NiQi usually has her ipad with her and we often make use of 'Google maps' on it, however, this time, sadly, the battery was dead and her cell phone map was too slow for Johan's driving...Ever the one with a nose for direction, Johan carried on driving along familiar roads until he found where we needed to turn.
After signing in at the entrance to the nature reserve, we drove all the way up to the top to the look out points. Naval Hill is no longer the historical feature that it used to be, which in my mind is very sad. The original buildings are derelict and the actual look out/bunker building is behind fencing and overgrown with weeds. Whatever history is behind Naval Hill can only be found in the history books or on Wikipedia...it has now become a monument to Nelson Mandela. No offence to him, and if you know me you will know that I am a huge fan of him, however I do think it is silly to use one historical venue and 'overthrow' it with new 'history'.
I have to admit that the statue is magnificent and it is huge. It can be seen for miles around perched on the top of the hill and you would have to be a fool not to recognize who the statue is of, if you didn't know beforehand. There are two viewing decks to each side of the Mandela statue, where you can stand and see Bloemfontein the city and beyond. It is truly magnificent and even being afraid of heights does not stop one from being amazed at what lays below you.
There are different trails for walking on the hill and on the east side is a sculpture of a 'white horse' which was made on the side of the hill from rocks and painted white. It was used as a direction marker for the British cavalry during the Anglo/Boer war and has been declared a national monument. We didn't do any of the trails as we didn't have time for one thing and it would have been too far for NiQi to walk too, but the horse is big enough to be seen from afar.
There is more development taking place just before you reach the statue and viewing points and we all guessed that it may be a restaurant. There was no notice board indicating what the structure is, so if we ever get back there we will find out if we are correct in our thinking. On the other side of the hill are huge...and I really mean it when I say huge...masts for communication of all kinds I guess. When we were there, the winds were blowing very strongly and I noticed how thick the stays are to keep up the masts and to stop them from moving too much.
Further down is the old observatory which is now used as a theatre. The gates were locked so we couldn't go inside, although I would have loved to. Some say that it is haunted and even though I don't believe in ghosts, I like to hear the stories behind such things.
We then drove through the rest of the nature reserve and saw zebra from far, a number of buck and were thrilled to have a giraffe right next to us on the side of the road...oblivious to us while it munched on the trees.
Visiting Naval hill and the reserve was well worth the time we spent, I just wish that the history behind the name was given in a plaque of some kind, and the buildings were renovated and shown as they were originally built...they could be made into a museum with the history, both old and new, for all to learn about...
No comments:
Post a Comment