Channel – Just Off the Highway with Al Prodgers
Just Off the Highway Videos
Just Off the Highway | Episode 51 | Vaal Dam low level reveals Secrets of Flying Boats
Low water levels in Vaal Dam have presented a unique opportunity. The Vaal Dam was once South Africa’s first ever inland international airport. I can show you what’s left of the structures that once hosted the magnificent sight of flying boats. A
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 50 | Searching for Jacaranda Jim: Story of Pretoria’s Iconic Trees
In November, Pretoria puts on a vibrant display as 60 000 Jacaranda trees in full bloom colour the city streets. Behind the purple haze of these flowers, there are some eccentric human stories. Al Prodgers goes in search of the lost graves of men who
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 49 | CMI Hospital – Haunted Past & Bright Future (2/2)
The Children’s Memorial Institute (CMI) in Braamfontein, Johannesburg opened in 1923 and today it still functions as a centre providing specialised services to the most needy kids, including autistic and neuro-divergent children. The building itsel
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 48 | Legacy of War – 101 Years of Healing (1/2)
The Children’s Memorial Institute (CMI) in Braamfontein, Johannesburg opened in 1923 and today it still functions as a centre providing specialised services to the most needy kids. The building itself is filled with stories. Some historical, some i
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 47 | Chaos to Order (and Back!) Finding Johannesburg’s Origins 2/2
Part 2/2 of the story of Johannesburg. Just Off the Highway finds the original cornerstones still in place, but now ignored, in the bustling city that overflowed its boundaries. Experience a drive with Al Prodgers travelling the border of a tiny scra
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 46 | Striking Gold! Finding touchstones of Johannesburg’s Origins 1/2
Reminders of Johannesburg’s beginning still exist. The literal foundations of Johannesburg can be found and touched. If you’re brave enough. Where did George Harrison find the gold reef and what happened to him afterwards? Al Prodgers goes “Jus
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 45 | Shipwreck & Tragedy – Tales of Port Edward
At Port Edward in South Africa, a giant sand dune overlooking Silver Beach has a dark history of suffering and death. In 1552, a Portuguese treasure ship, the Sao Joao was wrecked here. Survivors huddled on the dune before beginning a nightmare march
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 44 | Tuisbly – The Rail that Stayed at Home
Why would they name a railway siding “stay at home”? What would you name your farm if it’s one of the coldest places in South Africa? Al Prodgers wanders “Just Off the Highway” to tell the story of Tuisbly.
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Ep 43 | Forgotten in the Veld: Mission to rescue neglected heritage
Near Alberton in Johannesburg, Al Prodgers goes Just off the Highway to find a neglected memorial to a tragic rail collision in 1927, but the journey to uncover the story behind the event is a detective trail that spans three continents.
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Ep 42 | Iconic South African foods: Kota & Sputnik meets Meals on Wheels
Special A Kota is a quarter loaf of fresh white bread with any delicious filling you can imagine. Al Prodgers goes Just off the Highway to trace the journey of this authentic South African food from the streets to the suburbs. And meets the dedicated
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Ep 41 | Valley of Conflict – Tracing History from Koni people to Boer War
Near Dullstroom, Mpumalanga there’s a valley that bears the traces of different peoples who have lived, farmed, and fought there for centuries. Al Prodgers visits Valley of the Rainbow to see the ruins of Koni people dwellings and tell the story of
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 40 | Boer War Mystery – One Man with Two Graves
How was the same man buried twice? The Kloof Cemetery in Heidelberg contains 2 graves for Sgt Woodward who was killed in the Anglo-Boer War. Al Prodgers puts together different versions of a story of mistakes, confusion and macabre rumours in the fog
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 39 | Magaliesberg Underwater
At least 2 billion years old, the Magaliesberg is truly ancient. It’s almost half the age of the planet itself and the whole area was once submerged under vast inland sea. The evidence is very easy to spot when hiking through the kloof.
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 38 | Boer War Justice? Or Revenge? The Question of Salmon Van As
The bullet holes in the wall tell a tale from the end of the 2nd Anglo-Boer War in 1902. Al Prodgers visits Heidelberg in Gauteng to find the sites of the “White Flag Incident” when a Boer soldier, Salmon Van As, controversially stood trial for k
December 17, 2024
Just Off the Highway | Episode 37 | Haunted Bridge – The legend of Heidelberg’s Spook Brug
On the N3 Between Johannesburg and Durban, a bridge with a mysterious name crosses over the road. Spook Brug. Haunted Bridge. In a Just Off the Highway Halloween special, Al Prodgers goes in search of the origin of the ghost story and tests whether t
December 17, 2024
