Museum

Looking over the grassy plains, watching the zebra graze with the picturesque setting of the original Paul Kruger farmhouse in the background, we let our thoughts turn to the past. Suddenly we are reminded how far we have come as a nation and how rich and diverse our heritage is. Kedar Country Hotel, Conference Centre & Spa is a cultural gem tucked away in the scenic mountains just outside Rustenburg. Just one and a half hour’s drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria, Kedar is only 15 minutes from Sun City and the Pilanesberg Game Reserve – home to the “Big Five”.

This historic farm of over 700 acres has been game-fenced and populated with a wide variety of game. Invaluable environmental work has been done to remove alien vegetation and restore the wetlands.

Kedar boasts an African-themed 62-bedroomed hotel and 8 conference venues, housing authentic Tswana antiques and historical artifacts dating back to the Iron Age.

An African Spa has been built in an idyllic setting, jutting out over a natural wetland.

Kedar is the custodian of the Paul Kruger Country House Museum, a collection of unique historic buildings situated on Boekenhoutfontein. The museum showcases a wide range of Kruger memorabilia and items of archeological and historical interest from the Rustenberg Museum.

Kruger purchased Boekhoutfontein in 1859 and fostered a close friendship with King Kgosi Mokgatle of the Royal Bafokeng nation. He encouraged the King to register his title over the nation’s land, which meant that it could not be confiscated during the Apartheid era, today making the Royal Bafokeng the richest of the African nations and gaining Kruger much acclaim.

In 1971 the farm was declared a national monument, and the portion on which Kruger’s farmstead is situated was bought by the Simon van der Stel Foundation, which painstakingly restored the various buildings to their former glory.

Open: On request
t 014 573 3218  t head office 011 950 6000
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   www.recreationafrica.co.za

The Museum van de Caab is housed in an 18th Century wine cellar on the 318 year-old Solms-Delta wine estate in Franschhoek.

The museum records the complex and fascinating history of South Africa through the individual people who lived and worked on the farm, from its pre-historic past to the present – through colonialism, slavery and apartheid.

Evidence of pre-colonial habitation is shown in excavated stone artefacts housed in glass cabinets.

Other archaeological remains in the museum are displayed in a stream of delicate ceramic fragments, all found on Solms-Delta, from Khoisan pottery to the blue-and-white porcelain of the East.

Visitors are also offered guided open-air tours of the excavated foundations of a 17th Century ruined homestead – one of the oldest to be uncovered at the Cape – in addition to a Dutch well and a Later Stone Age settlement site.

Newly opened on the estate is a restaurant called Fyndraai that has a decidedly local twist. With a glass floor that floats above the exposed remains of the old wine cellar, the restaurant explores the diverse culinary traditions of the Cape: Dutch, Indonesian and Khoisan.

Traditional Afrikaaner boerekos, with its Cape Malay (slave) influences, is combined with ingredients that were first used by the indigenous Khoisan nomads who lived here thousands of years ago.

The restaurant is part of a larger conservation initiative on the estate to restore 12ha of farmland to the original mix of fynbos and renosterveld.

A nursery is also in the process of being established to propagate the edible heritage flora. The cuisine at Solms-Delta, like its adventurous wine, generous people and charming buildings, can best be described as Hiervandaan [‘from this place’].

Entrance: FREE
Open: 9am–5pm
 t 021 874 3937   f 021 874 1852
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   www.solms-delta.co.za

Millions of visitors have wandered the halls and corridors of the Iziko South African Museum to be stimulated and inspired by its collections and exhibitions. They have left the Museum with a better understanding of the Earth and its biological and cultural diversity, past and present.
The Museum houses more than one and a half million specimens of scientific importance, ranging from 700-million-year-old fossils, to insects and fish caught last week. The Iziko Planetarium, which is housed in the South African Museum building, is a celestial theatre in the round, utilising the Minolta star machine and multiple projectors, which recreate the night sky and transport the audience through the wonders of the universe.

Planetarium - t 021 481 3900  Entrance: R20 (adults), R8 (seniors & students with SA ID), R6 (children), R10 (adult chaperone - children’s shows). Shows daily. Shows daily.

Museum: R15 (adults), R5 (seniors & students with SA ID), R5 (learner)
Open: Daily 10am–5pm (Closed Christmas Day and Workers Day)
t 021 481 3800 (museum)  f 021 481 3993 (museum)
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   www.iziko.org.za/sam/index.html                                                    

The Bo-Kaap, a small residential area above the central business district of Cape Town, is closely associated with the history of Islam in South Africa. The oldest mosque in the country, the Auwal Mosque, is situated in Dorp Street behind the Museum. By 1934, approximately three-quarters of the residents were Muslim, and today there are nine mosques in the Bo-Kaap. Built in the 1760s, the museum building is the oldest house in the area still in its original form. The architecture of the building represents a mixture of the Cape Dutch and English Georgian styles. Exhibitions and public programmes focus on the history of Islam at the Cape, Islamic decorative art and the history of the Bo-Kaap area. Temporary exhibitions focus on contemporary issues within the Muslim community in Cape Town.

Closed Sundays, Workers Day, Christmas Day, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha.
Entrance is free on selected commemorative days and for children under 16 years.

Entrance: R10 (adults), R5 (seniors, students with SA ID, learners)
Open: 10am–5pm (Mon-Sat)
t 021 481 3939  f 021 481 3938
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   www.iziko.org.za/bokaap/index.html