On Tuesday, 8 April 2014, the British-based newspaper, The Guardian, published the story of a fisherman who retrieved an old beer bottle from the Baltic Sea off the northern German city of Kiel. Sealed inside the bottle was a postcard with a handwritten message.
Erindi Private Game Reserve, Namibia
Erindi Private Game Reserve lies along the eastern border of the Erongo Region on the Central Plateau of Namibia. Many species of game, including large predators, roam the over 70 000 hectares of savanna dotted with mountains of volcanic origin. Archaeological evidence suggests that the area encompassing the reserve was occupied by many prehistoric cultures over a long period of time. The oldest of these cultures was the San who were responsible for the magnificent rock art in the reserve.
Batho, Bloemfontein’s oldest existing historically-black township, boasts a long gardening tradition. From the early 1920s, when the Town Council started moving Bloemfontein’s black residents from the old Waaihoek location to Batho, gardens were laid out on most properties.
Hoffmanplein weer opgetooi
Na ‘n paar dekades wat Bloemfontein sedert die 1960’s saam met sy onooglike beton-stadsplein, te wete Hoffmanplein, moes leef, het die plein in ‘n mate sy ou glorie teruggekry. Die stadsraad het uiteindelik die wysheid in pag gehad om met vernuwing te poog om wat eens ‘n lowergroen pragplein was en toe deur opvolgende stadsrade verknoei is, te herstel.
Die geskiedenis herhaal homself soms op bisarre maniere. Een van die ontstellende gebeure van die aanloop tot dieTweede Wêreldoorlog (1939–1945) was die sogenaamde Kristallnacht toe stormtroepe van die Nazi-party in die nag van 9 November 1938 Joodse besighede, huise en sinagoges in verskeie Duitse stede en dorpe se vensters stukkend gegooi en die inhoud geplunder het. Die volgende dag was strate besaai met glasskerwe – vandaar die naam Kristallnacht of ‘nag van gebreekte glas’. In hierdie geval was die Duitsers die agressors.