'City of Flowers'
If you stand for too long in one place in the KwaZulu-Natal mist belt, you've got to take care that your walking stick doesn't take root. Apart from being famous as Sleepy Hollow and the capital of the short-lived Boer republic of Natalia, Pietermaritzburg is also known as the 'city of flowers'.
Things just profuse there. Which must have made the job of establishing one of the country's nine botanical gardens there a matter of pretty much just standing around and watching things grow. The Pietermaritzburg Botanical Garden was established in the early 1870s and boasts with beautiful nature scenery.
Nevertheless, it takes inspiration to plant a row or two of saplings and imagine how they'll look a century later. The avenue of plane trees, planted in 1908, constitutes one of the arboreal wonders of South Africa. It is without a doubt the finest avenue of planted trees, now that what international tree lover Thomas Pakenham calls 'the tree Taliban' has begun chainsawing the massive old gum trees of Cape Town's Tokai arboretum to sawdust.
Butterfly House
This complex in Pietermaritzburg has a craft shop, art gallery, coffee bar, African art and craft centre and a garden. The prime attraction is a walk through the butterfly house where visitors come into close contact with butterflies from around the world that fly freely in a lush environment. An outdoor butterfly garden complements the enclosed house and visitors are thus able to observe these jewels of nature in their natural habitat.
Tatham Art Gallery
The Tatham Art Gallery in the former Supreme Court building in Pietermaritzburg has moved on considerably since it started in 1904 with donations of Victorian art and early 20th century British and French artworks - including luminaries such as Degas, Picasso and Matisse - to focusing on a 'historically representative and contemporary collection' of works by KwaZulu-Natal artists. Visit in November for the Ngezandla Zethu (with our hands) exhibition in which contemporary artists exhibit and sell their work.
Pietermaritzburg Model Engineering Society
At the Model Engineering Society in Bisley, Pietermaritzburg, you’ll be able to take a train ride with a difference. Upon arrival, a tour of the premises will be given, and you get to take a good look at the miniature locomotives and the impressive tracks running through the grounds. The various tracks are roughly 1 km in length and include sharp bends, tunnels and bridges (the longest bridge being 9 m in length).
You can choose which trains you want to ride on, all of which resemble old fashioned steam trains from the olden days. There are steam powered and diesel powered trains that you can hop aboard and enjoy a fun ride through this exceptionally beautiful area. It is child-friendly, so bring along the kids for a fun day of train riding. The venue is a popular spot for birthday parties and private functions.