My second day in Pretoria, I ventured out solo as my friends returned to China. I planned to visit the National Zoo, a place my great grandfather wrote about visiting twice. To get there from the Gautrain station, I walked across the city through Church Square to see other buildings still standing from when my great grandfather lived in Pretoria.
Church Square
Situated at the center of historic Pretoria, Church Square boasts several historic buildings on its perimeter. The square, ironically, does not have a church even though it is named for churches that stood there well before my ancestor walked the square. He traversed it regularly and posted letters and post cards to friends and family from the post office that still stands on the square.
Another building my great grandfather would have been familiar with still stands in a corner of Church Square. The Palace of Justice was built in Paul Kruger’s time. Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders were charged and jailed from this building during the Rivonia Trial.
Kruger Monument and Sammy Marks Fountain
A monument to the first president, Paul Kruger, now crowns the center of the square. However, it was not erected until the 1950s. Prior to that, in 1901, Sammy Marks gifted a cast iron fountain to the city, in lieu of the Kruger statue he originally had planned. This fountain graced the square for 10 years. Then, they relocated the fountain to the new National Zoo, where my great grandfather would have enjoyed its splashing waters.
The National Zoo
On Friday, January 3, 1913, my great grandfather wrote:
“Up at 8 a.m. Had ostrich eggs for breakfast. We donned our white suits etc. and walked out to the zoo. Took 2 loaves of bread and 2 pieces of polony. Had our dinner [lunch] in the zoo. After looking around until we were tired and then we came home.”
The National Zoo was very young when my great grandfather visited it, only a few years old. I’m sure it was very different then from today. However, some of the original buildings still stand. If you follow my adventures, you know I enjoy zoos and aquariums. Some of my happy places are these. This made the visit to the zoo more appealing to me to connect with my ancestor.
The zoo itself is large and pretty good. The enclosures are spacious and naturally appointed. However, I felt like much of the infrastructure was old and wearing out. The aviary’s stairs creaked and bent almost too much, and weeds overcrowded some spaces. Overall, I enjoyed the zoo. I especially loved the large savannah exhibits, the historic enclosures on the back hill, and the African folktale signs everywhere connecting the animals to indigenous myths and stories.
The Elephant House
Visiting the original elephant house, though, brought deep emotions as I connected with my great grandfather. On Sunday, November 24, 1912, he wrote about a visit to the zoo:
“Our belts were quite tight then so we adjourned to the parlor for a while and the after taking a “snapshot” in front of their house, the 3 of us went to the zoo. After having a chase around and took a few pictures we stopped under the trees and had some cold drinks. Took photo of the Elephant when they were riding her.”
I learned, while examining the Sammy Marks Fountain at the zoo, that Sammy Marks donated the Asian Elephant named Mary that gave rides at the zoo. That would have been the same elephant my great grandfather snapped photos of at the zoo that day. The original elephant house, the backdrop to that afternoon adventure, still graces the back of the much larger African elephant paddock.
I don’t know why, but walking up to the old elephant house and sitting on a bench watching the graceful beast across the fence, really hit me for an emotional loop. I felt my great grandfather’s presence and felt him cheering me on in the face of the adversities I experience.
Following His Footsteps
This wasn’t the only time I had a strong connection to my great grandfather on this trip. As I journeyed other places he wrote about, I could feel him near. In Pretoria, I also found the address of where he lived while there. Today it is a Ford dealership, but the location isn’t far from either Church Square or the zoo. I can imagine things were very different in 1912-1913 in Pretoria.
