Corrie ten Boom

Cornelia Johanna Arnolda ten Boom, generally known as Corrie ten Boom, (April 15, 1892 – April 15, 1983) was a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II. Ten Boom co-wrote her autobiography, The Hiding Place, which was later made into a movie of the same name. In December, 1967, Ten Boom was honored as one of the Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel.

Read more here ….

And… here to visit the Corrie ten Boom museum….

This is the book I’ve read and would like to read it again, as a chess player mentioned it to me, I’ve thought to read it again!

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Lydenburg Heads and home to the black leopard

 

Lydenburg Heads..about 310 km from Pretoria

Lydenburg Heads… image: metmuseum.org

Lydenburg is the town where I grew up since my 5th birthday….on the farm “Goedgedacht” about 15 km outside the town, near Pilgrim’s Rest. Follow this link to read about the Lydenburg Heads….

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lyde/hd_lyde.htm

This group of seven fired earthenware heads is named after the site where they were discovered in the eastern Transvaal of South Africa. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples from the excavation site has established that the heads were buried there around 500 A.D., making them the oldest known African Iron Age artworks from below the equator.

The reconstructed heads are not identical, but do share a number of characteristics. Modeled strips of clay form the thinly opened oval eyes, slightly projecting mouths, noses, and ears, and raised bands decorating the faces, while the backs of the heads are adorned with incised linear patterns. The columnar necks are defined by large furrowed rings. Necks ringed with fat have been and continue to be viewed as a sign of prosperity by many African peoples. However, it is currently impossible to know whether the rings on the Lydenburg heads were intended to be read in this way due to the scant information available on the ancient culture that produced them.

Two of the largest heads could have been worn like helmet masks. They are differentiated from the smaller heads by the animal figures poised on their peaks and the small clay spheres that articulate what appears to be raised hairlines. The animals, once covered by a heavy slip, are now difficult to identify but have disk-shaped faces reminiscent of a lion’s mane.

The five smaller heads are similar to one another, with the exception of one that has an animal visage with a projecting snout. Too small to have been worn as helmets, these heads all have small holes on either side of their lowest neck rings that may have been used to attach them to something else.

For a variety of reasons it has been speculated that the heads were used in initiation rites, perhaps even worn. Specularite, a variety of hematite whose crystals glisten when rotated, was placed strategically on the masks in incisions and raised areas such as the eyebrows. This has been cited as a possible indication that the heads were used in public ceremonies, as they would have shimmered impressively when moved in the light. The holes in the five smaller heads and the helmet size of the two larger ones could also indicate that these earthenware heads were masks worn for various ceremonies. None of this can be known for certain, however, and the use and meaning of the heads remain a matter of conjecture. Nevertheless, it is clear from the deliberate manner in which the heads were buried that whatever significance they may have held, they were respected enough to be interred with care.
Resource: metmuseum.org

This tunnel is in the Eastern part of the country….on the road from Lydenburg to Tzaneen… awesome views in this area! Read more about Advocate J G Strijdom, one of the Prime Ministers of South Africa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gerhardus_Strijdom

If you follow this link….http://www.griquas.com/2006/6.htm you will find fantastic pictures of places in South Africa, historical sites…very interesting!

Click for larger view

The first school in Lydenburg— built in the 1850’s!

The Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1890

 

The town of Lydenburg (55 km from Sabie) have a rich history associated with the Voortrekkers and the Anglo-Boer War. The name “Lydenburg” means Place of Suffering and the town was so named after the many deaths of Voortrekkers at Ohrighstad due to malaria. In 1856 De Republiek Lijdenburg in Zuid Afrika was formed with Lydenburg as the capital. A year later this independent republic merged with the republic of Utrecht (in KwaZulu-Natal) and in 1860 became part of the Zuid–Afrikaansche Republiek once again.
 

The first church in Lydenburg was completed in 1853. It is the oldest church outside of the Cape Province that survived the wars of the country. Near the church is the original Voortrekker school. It was built in 1851 and was also used as a church building before the church was completed. The Dutch Reformed church was built in 1890 and features a superb pulpit (made from kiaat wood) which is an exact replica of the Stellenbosch Church pulpit.

Lydenburg and areas around is the home of the black leopard!

Love mountain biking/hikes/birdwatching …..and other outdoor sports….read here…

http://www.sabie.co.za/about/mountainbiking/index.html

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Huberta…South Africa’s famous hippo!

Huberta’s Journey…..

Ek’s gek oor hierdie Seekoei-verhaal. Die storieboek is ook in Afrikaans verkrygbaar en maak seker jy kry hom in die hande, want ek dink hy gaan dalk uit druk gaan oor ‘n paar jaar. Ek weet net ek was baie gelukkig om hom in Afrikaans te kon kry! Maar Engels is ook seker net so goed, solank jy hom kry! Hierdie boek verleen hom ook tot die gebruik in Kuns! en kinders kan hul eie lekker seekoei-stories skryf na hul Huberta s’n gehoor het! Op een van die links hieronder kan jy ook lees oor ander bekende seekoeie. Geniet die Buffalocity-link, want daar is oulike inligting oor Huberta! en die museum ook!

  Huberta: the wandering star of the Eastern Cape

One of King William’s Town’s most famous residents is Huberta the hippo. In November 1928, for reasons known only to herself, Huberta began a long trek from St Lucia in Zululand to the Eastern Cape. For three years, she took a 1 600km wandering path southwards and her adventures captured the imagination of the nation and the world.
Huberta was not shy of strangers – she crossed roads and railroads and visited towns and cities. She ate her way through parks, gardens and farms and trampled over golf courses. Wherever she went, there followed journalists, photographers, hunters – and the interest of thousands of people. She became quite famous and her story appeared in South Africa’s newspapers, as well as international publications such as Punch and the Chicago Tribune.

The press, thinking she was a male hippo, nicknamed her Hubert. Later, when it was discovered that Hubert was in fact a female, she was renamed Huberta.

During her journey through what was then Natal (now called KwaZulu-Natal), Huberta settled in the lagoon at the mouth of the Mhlanga River. She seemed to enjoy her new home, and visitors would throw fruit, sugar cane and other titbits to her.

A decision was made to move Huberta to the Johannesburg Zoo and a team set out to capture her. However, Huberta evaded capture in a classic comic-book scenario: journalists fell into mud pools in their efforts to interview her and she chased photographers up trees. But, as her status grew, the Natal Provincial Council decided to declare her royal game and it became illegal to catch or hunt her.

Once her idyllic life in the pool had been disturbed, she continued to travel southwards. She walked on to one of Durban’s beaches, and amused holidaymakers when she swam in the sea and sauntered along the beach. She trampled over the elite Beachwood Golf Course and arrived uninvited to a party at the Durban Country Club, ambling along the veranda as partygoers danced.

She went from there to the Umgeni River. She reached mythical status, with Zulus allegedly convinced that she had some connection to King Shaka because of the time she had spent in one of his former sacred pools. Xhosas honoured her as the spirit of a great chief who had returned to the world to seek justice for his people.  Read on this link more!

Update: January 2014: The first two links are broken, these links were my original sources. The 3rd and 4th links are new links for you to read about Huberta.

1. http://www.buffalocity.gov.za/visitors/huberta.stm

2. http://www.keiskammafriends.com/articles/huberta_garson.htm

3. http://www.museum.za.net/index.php/14-fp-roktabs/31-huberta-the-world-s-most-famous-hippo

4. http://eng.hrosi.org/?id=91

Famous Hippos

Book: Huberta the Hiking Hippo

by: Daphne Cox

Picture book for children age: 5-8/9

OOS-KAAP: Swerwer-seekoei kry ’n opvolger
YOLANDÉ HAYWARD
29/05/2008 10:09:01 PM – (SA)

PORT ELIZABETH. – Is dit blote toeval of is daar nou na 80 jaar nóg ’n seekoei met jeukerige voete?

Huberta, die bekende swerwer-seekoei, het in 1928 al wat leef en beef aan die klets gehad toe sy haar “huis” in St. Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal verlaat het en die pad Oos-Kaap toe aangepak het.
Dit blyk dat die seekoei wat vandeesweek op Ballito se strand in Durban gewaar is moontlik in haar vrye voetspore wil volg. Nie net het albei seekoeie se stories in KwaZulu-Natal begin nie, maar dit lyk of al twee ’n liefde vir die branders het. Luidens talle nuusberigte oor Huberta het die media in daardie tyd ook van haar vrye voete te hore gekom en haar eers Hubert gedoop. Dit het egter later aan die lig gekom dat die hy eintlik ’n sy was. Van toe af is sy sommer Huberta genoem. Luidens die Buffalo City-webwerf het haar pad – van sowat 1 600 km – met dié van baie Suid-Afrikaners gekruis. Sy het glo vir ’n wyle in die Mhlangarivier in KwaZulu-Natal gebly, maar toe is daar besluit om haar te vang en na die Johannesburg-dieretuin te neem. Dié planne het haar glo nie beïndruk nie en sy het uit haar vangers se kloue geglip en weer die pad gevat. Volgens die webwerf het die provinsiale regering toe besluit om dit onwettig te maak om Huberta te vang of te jag. Net soos die seekoei op Ballito se strand het Huberta ook ’n besoek aan een van Durban se strande afgelê en sonsoekers daar met oop monde gelaat. Volgens mnr. Garnett Cantor, ­eienaar van die Kraggakamma-wildpark in die Baai, is dit nie ­eienaardig vir seekoeie om in seewater te beland nie.

In 1931 het Huberta die Oos-Kaap bereik, maar dis ook hier waar haar epiese reis en lewe tot ’n einde gekom het. Sy is deur ’n groep jagters by die Keiskammarivier geskiet. Vandag is haar opgestopte seekoeilyf in die Amathole-museum in King William’s Town te sien. Volgens Cantor is swerwer-seekoeie nie ’n vreemde verskynsel nie. “Veral bulle – omdat hulle baie territoriaal is – word partykeer uit hul groepe geskop. Dan vat hulle die pad.” Hy waarsku hoewel Huberta se storie mense betower het, moet dit mense nie blind maak vir die feit dat seekoeie gevaarlik is nie.
Bron: Die Burger
http://www.dieburger.com/Stories/News/Regions/17.0.502052609.aspx

Image: Wikimedia

Hippo-Skull..image: Wikimedia

Die Suid-Afrikaanse boek — wat in Engels geskryf is wat ek onder hande gehad het, se titel is “Huberta’s Journey”…volg hierdie link ook daaroor!
Cecily van Straten is die outeur…volgens hierdie link.
http://www.childlit.org.za/vstraten.html

Image: dinosoria.com/mammifere/sens-huberta

Image: Everypicture.com
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