Modise's Place

The Background:

Not far from the historical village of Cullinan is the little town of Rayton, another settlement to have evolved from the discovery of diamonds in the area. With the opening of the Premier Mine in the vicinity, many diamond diggers made their way to this part of the world to prospect for diamonds. It wasn’t long before the company built a spur from the then railway line between Pretoria and Delagoa Bay, to a station called Rayton.

The Premier Diamond Mine, sometimes known as the New Premier, so as not to confuse it with the old Premier of the De Beers group, is the greatest known diamond mine in the world - as large as the four De Beers Consolidated Mines combined. The mine is shaped liked a pear and lies on a level plateau about two hundred feet in elevation, surrounded by hills and kopjes. The crystals mined here are of the finest quality and colour, and the percentage of large crystals of gem material is greater than from any other mine in the country.

Rayton is named after the first manager of the Montrose Diamond Mining Company, Colonel Balliston’s wife - Lady Rachel Ray Williston. Today the town exhibits some fine examples of classic architecture that have survived the ages, and the Post Office is the original magistrate’s office. Although Rayton became little more than a ghost town following the Second World War, today it is a thriving little ‘dorp’ in the true sense of the word.

Rayton is a well known small town situated in the North-East of Gauteng Province, situated only 30 minutes East of Pretoria, just off the N4 highway.

Modise's Place, with its tranquil cottage setting with fully equipped english cottage styled houses, our hospitality provides you with good food, excellent service, all within a town and country surrounding! Considering that we are situated within range of six exquisite wedding and function venues, we provide a training and conference facility.

In Cullinan, only 15 minutes drive from us, you can explore this historical little mining town. Surface tours of the mine, where the biggest diamond ever was found, (the hole 4 times as big as Kimberley's hole!), open air mining equipment museum, mural paintings of Italian Prisoners of War and villiage tours are only a few of the attractions to do and see in our area.We also are within range of game park which is situated on the railway line from Pretoria to Machadodorp, between Koedoespoort and Rayton Station.

Team Building Services:

We can accommodate up to 15 members. Freedom of space allows teams to perform at their level best. There's even a pool to cool off after a long day.

Catering Services:

A feast of A-la-Carte meals prepared in african tradition! Quench your thirst whilst enjoying the peace and quiet nature of a small town, away from the city.

Places of Interest:

Prinsloo & Sammy Marks Museums!

Cullinan Mine Tour - Go on a guided tour through the biggest manmade mine, where the biggest diamond was found in the world!

Game viewing - At its best out of our open Land Rover! Viewing of Zebras, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffes, a big variety of Buck species and so much more!

Cultural Village(s) - The original community of Mapoch lived in an area called Wonderboom in Pretoria. This community was evicted from Pretoria during the early 1950’s. Apparently a farmer petitioned to the government of the time, to have the community removed from “his” land as tourists were travelling through “his” land to visit the community. Blacks were forcibly removed from traditional settlements to make way for white communities under Apartheid policies.

This community was first moved to “Vlakfontein”, where it was found that there was not enough land for their cattle to graze, no rivers nearby and no space suitable to hold the traditional initiation schools, amongst other factors. The community petitioned and more suitable land was found for them. The Mapoch Ndebele Community then moved to a farm at Klipgat under the authority of Mr Speelman Buhlakani Msiza (Chief) in 1953. The current village was built and life goes on as usual.

Mapoch Ndebele Village is a unique place as the community still live and practice their traditional way of life, i.e traditional ceremonies, Ndebele paintings, beadwork and Ndebele culture in general.

The three main families in the village are the: Msiza’s (direct family of the Chief), Buda’s (son in laws) and Skosana’s. Locally the village is known as “Mabhoko”, which is the name of one of the late Ndebele Kings, but the white people had difficulty in pronouncing Mabhoko and called it “Mapoch”. The Ndebele people are descendants of the Nguni tribes (greater Zulu tribes) who split from the Zulus and moved up and settled around the greater Pretoria areas. Mzilizazi and King Cha Ndebele feature greatly in their history.

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