#160 ASTHMA, DIAMONDS AND POLITICS (GC1M0VV)
Rhodes Memorial along the slopes of Devil’s Peak in Cape Town, South Africa
S33°57.137 E18°27.568
The next cache took the Suikerbos-Chappie Alliance to Rhodes Memorial where we had to collect a series of clues, which led us to the final cache spot near Rhodes’s original wooden lookout bench.
Cecil John Rhodes (1853 – 1902) was a British-born South African businessman, mining magnate and politician. He was the founder of the De Beers diamond company that markets 40% of the world’s rough diamonds today, and which, at some time marketed as much as 90%. He was a believer in British colonialism and used his wealth and influence to expand the British Empire into new territories to the north of South Africa by obtaining mineral concessions from the most powerful indigenous chiefs, thus becoming the founder of the state of Rhodesia – later to be divided into the independent states of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Rhodes became Prime Minister of the Cape Colony in 1890, advocating greater self-government for the Colony, in line with his preference for the Empire to be controlled by local settlers and politicians rather than the imperialistic view of direct control by Imperial London. His tolerance of Dutch-speaking whites, supporting Dutch as language in public schools and facilitating the removal of most of the legal disabilities English-speaking whites had imposed on the Dutch Afrikaners, gained him great support and was instrumental in his election.
Unfortunately, his legacy was tainted by his involvement in the Jameson Raid – a botched attempt at gaining interest in the mineral-rich Transvaal by overthrowing the Transvaal government under President Paul Kruger.
Rhodes remained hampered by ill-health throughout his relative short life. He died in 1902, three months before his 49th birthday from heart failure at his seaside cottage in Muizenberg. He never married and was laid to rest at World’s View – a hilltop located just outside Bulawayo in what was then Rhodesia. Today it is part of the Matobo National Park in Zimbabwe.
The Rhodes Memorial located on the lower slopes of Devil’s Peak, was designed by Sir Herbert Baker and complete in 1912. It consists of a massive staircase with 49 steps (one for each year of Rhodes’s life) leading from a semi-circular terrace up to a rectangular U-shaped monument formed of pillars and built of Cape granite quarried on Table Mountain.
At the bottom of the steps is a bronze statue of a horseman, Energy by George Frederic Watts. Eight bronze lions by John Macallan Swan flank the steps leading up to the memorial with a bust of Rhodes also by Swan.
Visit Asthma, Diamonds and Politics at www.geocaching.com
#161 WHAT YOU SEE, IS WHAT YOU GET (GC2D67D)
Welgedacht in Durbanville, South Africa
S33°51.353 E18°37.645
This was the first of two impromptu micro-caches located around Durbanville that the Chappies wanted to show us.
A quick find by Blonde Suikerbos and on to the next…
Visit What you see, is what you get at www.geocaching.com
#162 ELSJE’S CORAEL (GC2D4XJ)
Welgedacht in Durbanville, South Africa
S33°51.466 E18°37.664
Another cleverly disguised micro, quickly found by Blonde Suikerbos.
Always an added bonus if you’ve seen a similar type of hide before… Kasimani bolt!
Visit Elsje’s Corael at www.geocaching.com
#163 DURBANVILLE RACE COURSE (GC3DE8T)
Durbanville, South Africa
S33°50.557 E18°38.450
This was a quick, and somewhat embarrassing revisit of a previous DNF (Did Not Find) by the Bossies, this time quickly located by Brunette Suikerbossie.
Visit Durbanville Race Course at www.geocaching.com
With the sun setting on a beautiful Sunday and with 22 new finds under our belt, it was time for the Bossies to bid their new cache buddies farewell and return home.
As said earlier – most things are more fun when done in pairs… Thanks to the Chappies for hosting us and making a good weekend, an awesome one!
Can’t wait for the next…!
Suikerbossies 