Monday, July 22, 2019

Apartheid Museum

Arriving in Johannesburg, we immediately located the Apartheid Museum.  Days, you could spend days here.  One of the ongoing exhibits includes the life of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

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This is the front of the museum.  
The quotation on the front reads:

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

-Nelson Mandela
June 1999


The creators of the Apartheid Museum really want a visitor to feel what it would be like to be white or non-white.  You begin your experience the moment you receive your ticket.

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The identities of some real people, white and non-white, are shared.



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A long walk way leads to the museum building.

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Art enhances the path.












Visiting the museum is a highly emotional experience...visually, sound-wise, and touch-wise. We did not have the time to explore and read and listen to everything.  There was so much...from the rise to the fall of apartheid.


















Try to take a moment and read The South African Bill of Rights.  Either click on the photo to enlarge it, or go to this link.
Our living document of The United States Constitution should be updated to include these rights.





Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Royal Natal Park



We broke up our drive to Johannesburg by stopping at Royal Natal in the Drakensberg.  It would have been great to spend more time here, but we only had time for a short hike to see some San Bushmen Cave Paintings.

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Our guide was Ndisa.


This section of the Drakensberg is close to the border between Lesotho and the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

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Once above the level of our truck, we followed Ndisa along a rock wall to the paintings.






Most were faint, but we could make out different animals.  He told us there were many such paintings; these were just a few that were easily accessible.



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Our destination for the night was Harrismith in the Free State where we stayed in Alexander's AIRBNB that once were nuns' quarters.  It was a very cold night.