Study Tour / Program

On this page the program of the Gateway to Africa Study Tour is described. During the study tour the following city’s will be visited:

- Cape Town
- Durban
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria 

In the period between Durban and Johannesburg we will also visit the country of Lesotho. In the figure on the right the route is shown. Subsequently the program is described for each city. To see the day-to-day program download the file below.
Study Tour Program

Cape Town
On the 23rd of May we will depart from Schiphol Airport Amsterdam to

Cape Town. This city is maybe the most famous city of southern Africa. It is the capital of the Western Cape province and the legislative capital of South Africa. The city lies in the southern part of the country and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1652 Cape Town was founded by the Dutchman Jan van Riebeeck. It is the oldest European settlement on the African continent. It was very important as way station for ships of the Dutch East India Company travelling from Holland to Asia. When the company went bankrupt, the city was conquered by the British in 1806.

Cape Town is famous for it’s many cultural highlights. The most eye-catching highlight is Table Mountain. It is an important part of the skyline of Cape Town. Another highlight is Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.

The region surrounding Cape Town is also famous for its good wines. The best-known villages are Stellenbosch and Paarl.

Durban
After visiting various projects in and around Cape Town, we will depart on the 1st of June to the city of Durban. Durban is situated  in

the province of KwaZulu-Natal, boarded by the Indian Ocean. The area around Durban was first founded by the Portugese explorer Vasco da Gama. He landed in Durban with Christmas 1497 and this is how the province got a part of its name. Natal is Portuguese for Christmas.

Modern Durban was founded in 1824 by a group of British military’s. One of these military’s was able to help to the Zulu king recover from a stab wound. To show his gratitude the king gave the group a strip of land 25 mile long and a 100 metres deep. In 1853 it was decided to build a big town on this strip. This town was named after the governor of the Cape Province, Benjamin d’Urban. In the following years the city grew and together with this the employment. The Zulu community didn’t want to work at the plantations and as a solution for this problem, the British imported Indian labourers. As a result of this, Durban has the biggest Asian community in South Africa.

Nowadays Durban has the biggest port in South Africa. This harbour is the 9th in the world. Many tourists visit the city, mostly because of its beaches.

Lesotho
After our visit to Durban we continue our journey on the 5th on June to the county of Lesotho. This kingdom covers an area about 0,74 times  the  area  of Holland. In 1966  it became independent from the

United Kingdom. The king of Lesotho is Latsie III. The country is the only independent nation that is completely above the 1.000 metres. Lesotho has 2.9 million inhabitants, which is about 59 inhabitants per km2.

Important for the economy of the country is the export of water and energy to South Africa. Another important part for the income of Lesotho is the agriculture.

Lesotho is a country that is largely affected by HIV and AIDS. It is estimated that 29% of the population is infected by the disease.

Johannesburg & Pretoria
After visiting Lesotho we will travel further to the biggest city of South Africa, Johannesburg. Johannesburg is the capital of the province Gauteng. Gauteng is the richest province of the country and one of the biggest economies on the continent of Africa.

Johannesburg is a centre for the gold and diamond trade. The city is situated near the Witwatersrand mountains. These mountains have many gold- and diamond veins. The currency of South Africa, the Rand, is named after these mountains.

South Africa’s biggest and busiest airport, O.R. Tambo National Airport is situated nearby Johannesburg. The airport is also the biggest airport on the African continent.

The region around Johannesburg was very thinly populated. This changed when gold was found in the region in 1886. This resulted in a true gold rush. Not only South African people moved to Johannesburg, but also people from North America and Europe came to Gauteng.

During the apartheid era, people from non-European descent were forced to move out of the city, this led to the founding of Soweto. Nowadays Soweto is the biggest township of South Africa.

In the same period we also will visit the city of Pretoria. Pretoria is the official capital of South Africa. It is situated 50 kilometres from Johannesburg. The city has about 1 million inhabitants.

Pretoria is founded in 1855 by Marthinus Pretorius. He was a leader of the Voortrekkers, the pioneers of South Africa. He named it after his father, Andries Pretorius. He became a hero for the Voortrekkers after his victory over the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River.

Pretoria played a big part in both Boer Wars. During the Second Boer War, Winston Churchill was set prisoner in Pretoria. He managed to escape and fled to Mozambique.

In 2005 it was proposed to change the name of Pretoria into Tshwane. This led to many opposition, mostly under the British and Afrikaner population of Pretoria.

_{(Photo's from: http://www.southafrica.info/ and www.pbase.com)}