Pretoria took my breath away. It is such a pretty place. It’s not an imposing metropolis like its neighbour Johannesburg and yet it tells a story just as powerful, just as intriguing- in it’s rolling streets and endless restaurants, in it’s hugeoungous shopping malls and its busy down town stalls.

^ Pictured at Muckleneuk Park in Pretoria. Can someone tell me if this is a crane or a stork?

^ A high income walled community, Pretoria. When I saw this I thought of Borrowdale Brooke.

^ Union Buildings which house the office of the President of South Africa

^ Another View of Union Buildings

^ Borewors roll à la Pretoria

^ University of Pretoria Admin Building. The University of Pretoria campus is really beautiful. Green lawns, cafeterias, restaurants, impressively equipped lecture theatres and well maintained buildings.  Besides the physical, it is also a major social and economic landmark in this city.

^ It seems that there is construction happening everywhere in this town. Houses, sports venues, churches. It’s awe inspiring to see so much development.  If this is all inspired by the World Cup in 2010, then a soccer fan I am!

^ Atterbury Shopping Mall. I took this one photograph before a security guard approached me and said: “Sorry, no photos allowed here.”

- All photos taken 20 to 23 June 2008

According to the National Museums & Monuments of Zimbabwe “The Domboshava area is part of the Chinamora Igneous Complex. This formed over 2600 million years ago as a magma intrusion into the even more ancient greenstone rocks which underlie Harare…”

According to me: Domboshava is a beautiful place to witness a sunrise…

I should know. I saw my second sunrise from there this morning. Eirik, Ola, Torstein and I were here by 0515hrs. The cloud cover prevented us from witnessing the full glory of the dawn but it as still amazing to behold.

We had breakfast there on the rocks and connected with two and a half billion years of nature.

^ Ola & Eirik take in the dawn atop Domboshava.

^ Rock worshipping? Ancestor seeking? Who knows.

^ “We’ve scaled the heights!” Torstein & Ola.

^ Our very own boy band. Torstein, James & Ola.

^ Under this rock…

It’s barely two months since she gave birth and Dudu is back in the mix. Her performance at the Mannenburg last night was tight.