Open Air Museum, South Africa - Part 6

When I first came to South Africa in 1993, I didn't know anything about the Dutch pioneers and other pioneers that settled here. They led similar lives to those in the New World. They rode on wagons and built farms. They were fair skinned and the natives were dark. History doesn't paint a rosy past. Besides the hardships, there were also terrible wars. And, slavery was a problem here just as it was in America.

The Kleinplasie Living Open Air Museum in Worcester, South Africa gives visitors a good picture of the positive achievements and resilience of the pioneers. At the museum, there are trained staff who demonstrate the baking, candle making, and metal working that happened so long ago. Some of the structures and displays also depict the lives of the African natives that lived in the region at that time.

I didn't take photos of everything, but there's enough in this series to get a good feel of what Kleinplasie ("Small Farm" in English) is all about. Today's photos are of some of the indoor exhibits. Click on the images to view them larger.

Related posts:

Part 1 - Original Cape Breed of Sheep

Part 2 - Pioneer Living Demonstrated

Part 3 - Animals at Kleinplasie

Part 4 - Donkeys at Kleinplasie

Part 5 - More animals at Kleinplasie

Open Air Museum, South Africa - Part 5

Kleinplasie is an open air museum in Worcester, South Africa. It's also a small farm, which is what the name means in English. Kleinplasie is, in fact, Afrikaans, a simplified version of Dutch. Many of the settlers to South Africa were Dutch and this museum honors the life of the pioneers. Next week I'll share photos of the things that we saw inside the museum. Today's photos are of the animals that we saw outside. We really enjoyed ourselves with the small farm feel.

When I was taking these two pictures of the rooster on the fence, Amanda got my attention to look at the baby donkey drinking from its mother. This rooster was perched on the fence that enclosed the donkeys. I was so busy looking at what was directly in front of me (the foreground) that I wasn't noticing what was taking place in the background. You can see all my fun donkey photos here in Part 4, including the baby drinking.

The only photo that turned out blurry was the one with the male ostrich. I zoomed in quite a bit to get that photo. You can click on the images to view them larger.

Rooster on Fence

Rooster on Fence

Chicken with Chick

Little Chicks

Ostrich and Rooster

Rooster and Chickens in the Tree

Chickens in the Tree

Related Posts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Open Air Museum, South Africa - Part 4

I hope you are enjoying my latest series on Kleinplasie. If you like animals, you'll probably like today's photos of the donkeys. Amanda wasn't quite sure about getting close to them at first, but then she got braver. She had some chicken feed in her little brown paper bag that we bought inside at the museum. I showed Amanda how to hold her hand flat and let the donkeys nibble the corn out of her hand. They were very gentle creatures.

Related posts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Open Air Museum, South Africa - Part 3

Kleinplasie Living Open Air

Museum, Worcester,

South Africa

Amanda had a lot of fun walking around and exploring the small farm and the life of the pioneers at Kleinplasie. Most of today's photos are of some of the animals that she saw. There were ducks, chickens and tortoises.

The watermill wasn't running on this visit, but I have seen it in action and it does grind out the flour that they use to bake the bread that they sell in the museum's shop. I took Amanda inside the watermill and showed her how the flour is ground and where the flour is stored. The outdoor oven where the bread is baked like in the pioneer days can be viewed in my previous post, Part 2.

Ducks

Ducks

Flowers

Feeding the Rooster

Peek-a-Boo

Watermill

Ducks

Tortoises

Related posts:

Part 1

Part 2