Monuments & Statues
The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk.
On 8 July 2011, the Voortrekker Monument was declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resource Agency.
Historic Sites
The Union Buildings (Afrikaans: 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 Meintjeskop at the northern end of Arcadia, close to historic Church Square. The large gardens of the Buildings are nestled between Government Avenue, Vermeulen Street East, Church Street, the R104 and Black9/pwood Street. Fairview Avenue is a closed road through which only officials can enter the Union Buildings. Though not in the centre of Pretoria, the Union Buildings occupy the highest point of Pretoria, and constitute a South African national heritage site.
Rietvlei Nature Reserve belongs to the City of Tshwane and came into existence as a water scheme to supply drinking water to Tshwane. Rietvlei Nature Reserve is, therefore, a fairly big nature reserve in an urban setting and covers about 4 000 ha. It has been a conservation area since 1929.
The Rietvlei eco system is stated as critically endangered. Rietvlei Nature Reserve protects water systems, an endangered vegetation type and endangered plants, animals and birds. Rietvlei Nature Reserve consists of mainly grassland and wetlands.
The large animals that occur in this reserve are eland, buffalo, white rhino, red hartebeest, Burchell’s zebra, black wildebeest, blesbok, cheetah, waterbuck, hippo, ostrich and jackal. Nocturnal animals in the reserve are hedgehog, aardvark, serval, bushpig, aardwolf and brown hyena. Many reptile species also occur in Rietvlei Nature Reserve.