Fort Wonderboompoort

Pretoria, South Africa, South Africa

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Fort Wonderboompoort is a late nineteenth-century fort on the crest of the Magaliesberg within the Wonderboom Nature Reserve, built by the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek to protect the northern approaches to Pretoria after the Jameson Raid and completed in September 1897 at a cost of about £49 000.

Designed by German engineers Otto von Dewitz and Heinrich Werner (with Dutch architect Christian Kunz), it formed part of the ring of Pretoria forts and was equipped with artillery, including a Long Tom gun, but never fired a shot in battle; by the time the British occupied Pretoria in June 1900 most guns and troops had been sent to the front, and the fort later served mainly as accommodation and then fell into disuse, its roof being demolished before the Second World War under Jan Smuts due to fears it could be used by anti-government forces.

Today the fort survives as a ruin in “romantic decay” reached by a steep hike of about 2 km within the Wonderboom Nature Reserve; although not well preserved, it is a popular spot for history enthusiasts and hikers because of its links to the Anglo-Boer War era and the panoramic views over Pretoria, as well as its proximity to the famous Wonderboom fig tree at the base of the hill.