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The Wonderboom is the name given to this massive wild fig tree (Ficus salicifolia). The tree was discovered in 1836 by the Voortrekkers, under Hendrik Potgieter, who named it the Wonderboom.
Wonderboom is Afrikaans for "Wonder Tree" or "Miracle Tree". The Wonderboom tree's branches reach over 50 meters in diameter, and the highest branches reach up 23 meters high! Exceptional size for a wild fig tree.
Wonderboom Nature Reserve is a 200 ha reserve which protects the 1000 year old Wonderboom tree.
Legend has it that it grew this big because a chief of an indigenous tribe was buried beneath it.
One can hike to the ruins of the Wonderboom Fort, at the top of the Wonderboom Hill, one of four forts built at the end of the 19th century, by the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek to defend Pretoria against the British forces.
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The city of Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa, and home to many historical buildings.