Others tried and sorely failed to be the first to be able to travel by vehicle from Cape Town to Cairo.
Major Chaplin Court Treatt and his South African born wife, Stella, succeeded in doing so in 1926 for the first time ever, taking a humongous 16 months to do so.
I presented this story at the Valentine's Day Johannesburg Heritage Foundation celebration on the lawns of Northwards and thought Heritage Portal readers would also enjoy this South African story of love, endurance and resilience against the backdrop of the Second World War. It was one of seven presented at this event.
Built in 1875. The house was used as the Mining Commissioner’s Office and during the 2nd Anglo Boer War, the H.Q. for Major John Maximilian Vallentin, the first commanding officer of “Vallentin’s Heidelberg Volunteers” consisting of “Joiners”. They were nicknamed the “Witkoppen” and hated by the Boers. Major Vallentin was killed in action on the 4th of May 1902.
