Flight from Cleveland to Washington and on to Johannesburg - A Short Safari Adventure Among Africa's Thorny Bushveld Wildlife - page 166

Johannesburg to change to reflect Mandela's name, just like Washington, DC. Most of the
major cities in South Africa have been changed to reflect the new political realities and
traditional names.
For example Pietermaritzburg (nobody is sure how the name was derived) is now the “place
of elephants, umGungundlovu”, a much more attractive name derived from the Zulu Empire era
under Shaka.
The central interior of South Africa is called the Highveld because it refers to the high
altitude and grass covered plateau veld. This area was historically grass covered with no trees
other than the riverine trees that grew along stream banks. Now, with avid gardeners planting
trees and shrubs and the water supplied by the Vaal Dam (a large man - made lake),
Johannesburg has become more like a semitropical forest with its own ecosystem. The trees,
apart from the syringa trees, are largely introduced species of silver oaks, oaks, jacarandas,
willows, pines, and other trees that are frost tolerant. Below the Vaal (meaning dirty in Dutch)
Dam, however, the water flow is so low and the human and mining operation effluent so
harmful, that the water is largely no longer usable, particularly for drinking, a more sinister
Vaal River.
After the some 17 hours of travelling, it was good to get out of the plane, stretch our legs and
meet our efficient travel escorts from Gracie Travel.