Potchefstroom
The First Capital Of The South African Republic, Founded In 1838 And Still Carrying The Oldest Surviving European Built Streetscape North Of The Vaal With A Large University That Gives The Town Its Character, An Oak Lined Heritage Precinct, And The Boer War Concentration Camp Cemetery Where Over A Thousand People Are Buried · Potchefstroom, North West
Potchefstroom was the first capital of the South African Republic, laid out on the Mooi river in 1838, and it still carries the oldest surviving European-built streetscape north of the Vaal - long oak avenues, a heritage precinct of early buildings and a museum quarter that handles the Transvaal's founding decades better than its obscurity suggests. The town's present character comes from the university rather than from the history: it is one of the largest in the country and it fills the place with students, bookshops, sport and a good deal of noise in term time and empties it completely in the holidays. The row includes one thing that the heritage version of this town tends to leave out. The Anglo-Boer War concentration camp cemetery is here, on the edge of the town, where over a thousand people, most of them women and children, are buried in ground the heritage brochures do not mention.
On the Mooi river in the North West, 120 km south-west of Johannesburg, Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa
A working university town. THE HERITAGE PRECINCT AND THE OAK AVENUES are public streets, walkable at any hour. The Potchefstroom Museum and its satellite houses keep daylight weekday hours with shorter Saturdays, and HOURS FOLLOW THE UNIVERSITY TERMS AND HAVE BEEN UNRELIABLE - telephone if a particular house is the reason you are coming. THE CONCENTRATION CAMP CEMETERY is open ground on the edge of town and is visited respectfully rather than ticketed. Term time fills the restaurants and the bars; the December and January holidays empty them and close several. The town has fuel, supermarkets, banks and a hospital. It is 120 km south-west of Johannesburg and 50 km from Parys. MALARIA-FREE.