Zoo Lake
| Zoo Lake | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Coordinates | 26°09′31″S 28°01′43″E / 26.15861°S 28.02861°ECoordinates: 26°09′31″S 28°01′43″E / 26.15861°S 28.02861°E |
| Primary inflows | Parktown Spruit |
| Primary outflows | Parktown Spruit |
| First flooded | 1908 |
| Surface area | 9 hectares (0.090 km2) |
Zoo Lake is a popular lake and public park in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is part of the Hermann Eckstein Park and is opposite the Johannesburg Zoo. The Zoo Lake consists of two dams, an upper feeder dam, and a larger lower dam, both constructed in natural marshland watered by the Parktown Spruit.
The land was originally part of the Braamfontein farm, and was bought by banker and mining magnate Hermann Eckstein for potential exploitation of minerals. When this objective failed, Eckstein laid it out as a timber plantation and named it Sachsenwald, after Otto von Bismarck’s estate in Germany. The plantation was started in 1891, and about three million trees were planted in the area. The forest became a favourite recreational spot for the wealthy Randlords and their families. About 10 years after Eckstein died, in August 1903, the Mayor of Johannesburg, W. St. John Carr, received a letter from his business partners (the firm Messrs. Wernher Beit & Co and Max Michaelis) with an offer of 200 acres of freehold ground for the Johannesburg Town Council to build the Johannesburg Zoo and the Herman Eckstein Park. The gift of land included a small Zoological Collection. 20 acres of the gifted land was to be used by the Imperial Light Horse Regiment, and is now the site of the War Museum and the Rand Regiments Memorial. The rest of the Sachsenwald land was developed into the present-day Johannesburg suburbs of Saxonwold and Forest Town.
An artificial lake was added to the Park in 1908. It also boasts the Coronation Fountain, a "musical fountain" and a Johannesburg heritage symbol, which was built in 1937 to commemorate the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. When Johannesburg celebrated its 70 birthday in 1956, as part of the city's celebration Margot Fonteyn danced Swan Lake with the Lake as a backdrop.
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Wikipedia