Guide launched on spots related to Gandhi's South Africa journey

A guide to over a dozen sites in South Africa related to Mahatma Gandhi, including the Pietermaritzburg station where he was thrown off a train and the Old Fort prison complex where he was jailed for two months, has been launched, the authorities said Friday.

A statement by the South Africa Tourism (SAT) here said that the 13 spots situated in and around the cities of Durban and Johannesburg were seminal in the formative years of Gandhi's life in South Africa, where he arrived in 1893 and left 21 years later in 1914.

"We believe the guide will be very informative to both South African and international visitors and will resonate particularly with those who wish to learn more about Gandhi's South African experience," Hanneli Slabber, country manager, South African Tourism - India said.

The guide can also be integrated into a wider visitor experience by highlighting places where Gandhi created history - Constitution Hill and Johannesburg's Old Fort Prison, a jail where Gandhi and Madiba were held, Slabber said.

The other historical sites include the bronze statue of Gandhi in Durban that was unveiled by Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1993, Satyagraha House in Johannesburg where Gandhi and his great friend, Hermann Kallenbach, stayed.