Strap in and get ready for a most interesting 100-year-old tour

Date: 24 May 2025 By: Andries van Zyl

We kick off Oom Willem’s tour with a trip up the East Coast of Africa. The movie clip, however, starts a little closer to home, with our intrepid tourists waiting for a train at a dusty station. Try as we might, we could not ascertain which station it is. Perhaps our local sleuths can shed more light on this.

Almost a minute into the reel, we find ourselves at another railway station, apparently the old Johannesburg Park Station. From there, Oom Willem and his party travel north, crossing into what was then Rhodesia.

This is where our readers must pick up the trail. Do you recognise any of the scenery, waypoints or tourist attractions along the way? Although the footage is almost 100 years old, what do you remember about these places? Do they still exist?

If you’re unfamiliar with the “olden days” in Africa, now is the perfect time to find out more! The easiest way would be to take a screen grab or screenshot of the image you want to learn more about. Focus on geologically significant landmarks or possible historic buildings. Then ask Google—via its image search function—if it can help identify the landmark or building. There are also numerous AI sites such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc., into which you can drop the screenshot and ask the “robot” to find out what and where it is. You might be surprised by how detailed these searches can be and the amount of history available.

History buffs, especially, will enjoy this journey! From Rhodesia, the tour heads further north up the East Coast of Africa, so strap in and get ready for an exciting journey through time. See if you can track the travellers as they move from country to country. Go find your clues by clicking on our QR code provided below. Most importantly, if you do manage to identify some of the landmarks and stopovers, let us know via WhatsApp by sending your findings to Andries at (082) 603-2419 or by email to news@zoutnet.co.za. We would love to hear from you!

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.