Union Buildings–2012-05-19

Last Saturday, 19 May 2012, I paid a visit to the Union Buildings in Pretoria (where I live).

“The Union Buildings (Afrikaans: Die Uniegebou) form the official seat of the South African government and also house the offices of the President of South Africa. The imposing buildings are located in Pretoria, atop Meintjieskop at the Northern end of Arcadia, close to historic Church Square and the Voortrekker Monument. The large gardens of the Buildings are nestled between Government Avenue, Vermeulen Street East, Church Street, the R104, and Blackwood Street. Fairview Avenue is a closed road where only officials can enter to the Union Buildings. Though not in the center of Pretoria the Union Buildings occupy the highest point of Pretoria, and constitute a South African National monument.” (WikiPedia)

GPS

25°44'26.60"S

28°12'42.46"E

Around the Union Buildings there are commemorative memorials, beautiful gardens, and then, of course, the Union Buildings.

The Union Buildings with the Delville Wood War Memorial in the foreground On one side it has the dates, 1914-1918, and on another side it has 1939-1945, to commemorate the lives of South African soldiers lost in World War I and World War II.

There is even place for romance.

There are flowers all around.

Who doesn't like roses?

And even a ghost rider?

South African Air Force Museum Air Show-2012-05-12

Last weekend (Saturday), I visited the Air Force Base Zwartkops, for the South African Air Force Museum’s Air Show. One of my aims for the day was to actually get to the aircraft standing on the ground. However, that never materialized, since the air show was going non-stop, and I didn’t want to miss anything. I ended taking over 1200 photographs, but I only uploaded 54 to my Photobucket (see below).

GPS:	25°48'24.29"S
	28° 9'43.60"E

The map below shows where the air force base is.

Just messed around with the following pic. I used Picasa.

The following image depicts a race between the helicopter and the Bentley, ala Top Gear. The Bentley eventually won by the smallest of margins. The race was twice around the circuit.

The troops also did a mock rescue of friendly forces that were captured by enemy forces.

Below are the Silver Falcons from the SA Air Force.

There are more pictures in my Photobucket below.

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Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve–2012-05-05

I am forever asking my wife to think of places where I can go to take photographs in and around Pretoria, and, like the angel she is, she always tries her best to think of places. Yesterday, both of us came up with blanks. So, I decided that I would just ride around keeping my eyes open for a place or places. I was driving through Moreleta Park, an eastern suburb of Pretoria in South Africa, when I came across the Moreleta Kloof Nature Reserve. I knew it was there, but had never been there, and it never occurred to me to go there until I drove past it.

Entrance is free to the reserve, and there are Zebra, Blesbok, Springbok and ostriches to see. The amazing thing is that these animals are so used to the humans that come there that I was within metres from the Blesbok and I probably could have walked right up to the Zebra and her foal, but I didn’t want to take the chance of spooking them.

The great thing about South Africa, especially where we live (Pretoria), is that we can see wild animals within minutes from home. One of the things you will notice as you view the slideshow at the bottom, is that the reserve is right next to modern beautiful houses.

The entrance to the reserve is on the corner of Palmiet and Helios roads in Moreleta Park and the GPS coordinates are:

25°49'1.73"S

28°17'27.96"E

You can find it on the map below.

Apart from the animals to see, the reserve has a very nice variety of hiking trails. The trail that I walked covered about 75% of the trails there, and it probably took me about 2.5 hours to walk with the occasional photographs.