Location: Soweto, South Africa
Address:
Date: Oct 2018
Website: www.gauteng.net
Two towers stand tall above anything else in the Soweto area of South Africa. The 33 storey tall Orlando Towers are the last remaining structures of a coal fired power station. The power station was built in 1935 and closed in 1998.
These days the towers are now completely painted with murals. These murals have changed through the years but when we visited one was sponsored by local brewing company Soweto Gold and the other by telecom company Vodacom. One tower states "We are in Soweto and Soweto is in us". The other is for empowering education.
Other cooling towers that we saw as we travelled stood out against the skyline, but they were just plain looking.
Some of these power plants were still in operation.
The towers are also famous for being the world's first bungee jump between two cooling towers. Brave souls can jump from a little bridge that spans the two towers. Between the artwork and the adventure it is safe to say that these are the most exciting cooling towers in all of South Africa, perhaps the world.
Map of Our World
Orlando Power Station Cooling TowersPost # 254