We had a long weekend recently to celebrate Youth Day, which commemorates the start of the Soweto riots in 1976. The riots were sparked by a government edict that Afrikaans be used (together with English) as the medium of instruction in black schools. Afrikaans was seen as the "language of the oppressor", and the government edict resulted in growing resentment from teachers and students alike. It's estimated that up to 700 children were killed in these riots, which came to be seen as the beginning of the downfall of the apartheid regime.
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| Hector Pieterson, a black schoolchild shot by police during the riots. |
The holiday is now celebrated as a day when South Africans honour the people who died in the riots and bring attention to the challenges the youth of today face in the current political environment.
For us, it was also a chance to have another weekend away, so we took 4 days and adventured off to the Drakensberg Mountains. The Drakensberg are in the western part of Kwa-Zulu Natal and form the border with Lesotho. We ventured to the northern part (about a 4 hour drive) where one of the main features is the Amphitheatre and the highest peak is around 3500m.
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The Amphitheatre
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Accommodation
We stayed at the Montusi Mountain Lodge, a very luxurious affair complete with gourmet meals, open fires and under floor heating in our accommodation.
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| Here's our little house for the weekend. |
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| Morning light with the Amphitheatre in the distance. |
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Much to William's delight, the staff even tucked
Arnold and Rusty in while we were at dinner! |
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And here's the view from our bed which we enjoyed
every morning with a piping hot cup of tea!
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Once the sun came up, we went horse riding....
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| The stables |
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| Not much water as we're in the middle of the dry season. |
We also went for a couple of great hikes, however, will do a little more research next time as our little walk to check out the Amphitheatre turned into a 3 1/2 hour hike. Needless to say, we all enjoyed the 4 course dinner back at the lodge that night!
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| Here we are looking fresh and energetic at the START of the walk! |
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| Just one of the squillion shots we took of the beautiful scenery. |
Once again, we also managed to pat every animal we came across over the weekend (including this gorgeous little dachshund, Reddy, which reminded me of our family dog, Kyra from when I was a kid).
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| Ever the hunter...couldn't draw it away from a pigeon up on the roof! |
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| Each dog had it's own chair in the restaurant - my kind of place! |
And so...
...times have changed since 1976, and while children attend either English or Afrikaans medium schools, as of next year, ALL primary schools must also teach an African language from pre-primary onwards.
For us there are a few more trips to the Drakensberg yet to come, to visit such exciting places as Giant's Castle and Sani Pass (a 4x4 track up to the highest pub in South Africa). Roll on the next long weekend!
