Photos

This is a view from the very top of the immense Voortrekker monument near Pretoria, South Africa, looking down from what seems like hundreds of feet at the entry level floor and into the memorial a level below that. It is not a place to find yourself if you are scared of heights!

I had left my 10 mm lens behind when we visited, which would have permitted a broader field of view. To take the picture I had to hold the camera (with the strap around my neck just in case .... ) over a balcony a hundred or two feet up in the air to be able to get the view down into the memorial on the floor below - probably the most nerve racking picture I have ever taken!

You may be able to make out some of the bas-relief sculptures along the lower walls which tell the Afrikaners' version of their history in settling South Africa. Under the post-apartheid government I understand funding for this huge memorial has been ended and there was an Afrikaner folk-festival being held when we visited to raise money for the site's maintenance.