Aircooled VW South Africa

With fond memories of fun filled school trips I thought I'd take my boys to Mini Land the weekend to show them some cool models and some compact history


On arrival I noticed that we were the only car in the parking lot
Anyway we paid our entry fee walked in and got the shock of my life
Old Van's boat is gone, nothing works, the weeds are knee high and all the models are broken and neglected
It was the saddest thing I have ever seen
Strangely enough the only thing that worked in the park was a Church sound effect playing the wedding march, the rest was beyond repair.
Oh and the cashier worked at the entrance
So I thought I'd warn any potential patrons of the venue to beware, rather show your kids some photos of what ir once was on the net
I did not even take my camera out to snap some pics, the shock was overwhelming!

The ship burnt down a few years ago thanks to vagrants living in it.
It is is now under private ownership, and all they did was start a happy clappy church.
Very sad.

Shit that is sad. I spent one of my earlier single figure Birthdays there, which would be in the early 70's..
PLENTY has in fact changed up there since back in the days. I got the shock of my life the last trip I was in JHB, and drove on the N1 and couldn't understand where the Top Star has gone, including the monster minedump it was on.. Found out afterwards it's all been reclaimed.

That is very sad. I have some good memories of that place. On one school trip, two of the boys decided its a good idea to go for a swim, in their skivvy's! The teachers were so flustered..

Those nice white chain railings around the models in the first photo are hacked off, I assume for scrap metal.
There were model train coaches on top of some of the buildings, we had to step over some model cars laying in the walkways
I spotted one of the big model ships stuck behind a tree in the back of the garden
The model trains that should run between the buildings are missing rails, also scrap metal I assume.
I could go on and on, it's realy in a very sad state.

so sad. It looks like a great place to go to, especially with your kids.
I think its a place I really would have enjoyed.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chothia/8 ... otostream/

Now compare it to the miniland found on Durbans beachfront[5 photos]

We were in Durban over September, and took the kids to Minitown. My son (5yr) and daughter (8yr) loved it, requesting that we build a mini-town in our back yard!

yes but the Durban Miniland is still young. Santarama is like over 40 years old.. It just needed "someone" Council etc to show a frikkin interest to help maintain the upkeep. Plus it was an outside site, open to the elements. Not trying to find excuses, but if the management have no vested interest (Like the small Scale ride on train club further down the road which is all still there and I assume, working), then the little place is just going to die die to lack of interest.

Durban Minitown - 1969 Santarama - 1973, both outside sites, one situated right next to the see, both NGO's. Think the difference is that it seems Durban's had one person associated with and looking after it during all this time.

Took my little boy thre a few years ago also excited by find memories. All I can say is it was bad then. So I can only imagine what another 3'yeqrs would've done

:-0
I didn't realise it's age.. Well, just goes to show.

I found this yesterday
http://www.jozikids.co.za/johannesburg/ ... kazoo.html
They have a petition going to get some lottery funds to fix the place up
If the funds will end up where they need to be remains to be seen
Guys please sign their petition, the more signatures they get the better their chances should be for funding.
I can't see the full petition site at work, some parts are blocked
Let's just hope they do what they promise!

A group that I used to be involved in had a meet about 10 years ago at the mini-land. We had a disco in the boat. Even back then it was starting to show its age somewhat, but was still presentable. I heard a while back that the boat burnt down, such a pity, that place had a lot of good memories.

'Die Binnekring' (English: 'The Inner Circle') was an Afrikaans TV drama series produced in 1989. Quite gripping stuff at the time featuring Communists, Terrorists, and your friendly local KGB Double Agent. The series is currently released on Youtube, with a new episode premiere every day. Episode 7, which I watched last night had some very nice scenes set in the Santarama, Johannesburg at the time. It starts at around 01:20. Well worth watching!