The question of the capital of South Africa can not be answered quite so clear. Both Cape Town (seat of Parliament) Bloemfontein (seat of the Supreme Court) and Pretoria (administrative capital) are named as such. With 1.5 million inhabitants is the fourth largest city of Pretoria in South Africa and is also known as "Happy City" because the city until now thankfully been (still) not so much haunted by the crime wave of the adjoining Johannesburg.
me for Pretoria is more of the "Stress City" for the very first evening, when I reach after dusk the city, I've got her hands and feet so that, in the chaotic traffic jungle I find "Backpacker's" . In one hand the inadequate Lonely Planet's map, the other in the wheel, I curve under constant stress through the streets of Pretoria. One of the problems of orientation, there are the other road users not shown one-way streets and the malfunctioning gear of the VW Polo added. I think I need not explain more precisely, in such circumstances, not just driving a pleasure!
Fortunately, I can relax finally found myself in the "backpacker's" a little and I am the next morning ready for the city to look at a short walk. It strikes me quickly once that in Pretoria still very much beautiful old building there. Unfortunately, these (almost) all witnesses of the apartheid government.
Fortunately, the times have now changed and I can even monitor how a rally of black just below the Paul Kruger statue takes place. In the days of apartheid were blacks who met for more than six - even if only for a beer - immediately arrested and imprisoned for several years (see "Robben Iceland").
On drive back to Botswana, the traffic chaos starts all over again (see "In the Nick of Time"). In numerous and sometimes quite schlecht angeschriebenen Autobahnen und Strassen gilt es die richtige Richtung Rustenburg zu finden. Das Problem ist aber eben, dass in Pretoria so ziemlich alle wichtigen und grossen Autobahnen Südafrikas zusammenkommen und das macht die Orientierung, vor allem allein im Auto, äusserst schwierig.
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