Welcome Home
The original Swanage website was designed and built by recent Alumni who stayed in the home. The website has since been updated and to show appreciation to the students for the work they did, Alan has tried to stay true to their original design.
The proud creators of this website stayed at Swanage,
Dr. Alan Peter
Dr. Alan Peter is a Pulmonologist at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, where he runs a medical unit (as seen on ‘Saving Soweto‘).
In his spare time he enjoys safari’s and honorary officer duties for North West Parks Board in the nearby Pilansberg National Park, and playing the piano. The above photo was taken during one of Alan’s trips to Botswana.
Alan started welcoming medical students to Swanage in 2007 with the aim of providing a homely, friendly community vibe for medical students to enjoy during their electives. He is keen to provide local knowledge and tips to help get the most of your stay in South Africa, and strives to make your stay as warm and comfortable as possible..
Over 650 students and doctors from 32 countries have stayed at Swanage to date.
Alan’s Photography
These are but a few of the hundreds of beautiful photo’s taken by Alan. More can be found in the gallery on the “Our Family” Page.
“Saving Soweto“
See Dr. Alan Peter at Baragwanath Hospital in this episode of “Saving Soweto” Al Jazeera
“Super cool experience”
Every morning to get up at 5:30 for ward round, living in the strict home of a catholic priest … doesn’t sound like much fun? COMPLETELY UNTRUE!! The Swanage residence is definitely the greatest experience of our medical student career. Our “father”Alan (you can use this expression officially, its his title) is really care taking and will make your life here a super cool experience. Not only that he’s always organizing hot parties and is a lovely piano player, he will also be your personal supervisor at Bara hospital and teach you up to a real professional in medicine, two years before your graduation already. Theres only one right decision after visiting this website, and this is to get to stay HERE. You”ll never feel sorry for this decision.
Greets from Germany, Tonio
About Swanage
In April 2007 Alan opened Swanage’s doors to medical students, following a request from the medical elective officer at the nearby University of the Witwatersrand. The house is named after a Dorset resort, and was inherited from it’s previous owners.
Since 2007, over 577 medical students from 31 countries have stayed at Swanage.
Swanage is a spacious home owned by Alan Peter who is a physician and pulmonologist at Baragwanath Hospital. It is situated in in a leafy suburb of Johannesburg, only a stones throw away from the city center. It has easy access to a variety of amenities, including: bars, restaurants, shopping malls, golf courses and gyms. Swanage is situated in Sandringham, one of the safest suburbs in Johannesburg. The closest grocery store (Spar) is 200m walking distance from the house. This safe environment exists thanks to the tireless work of our local private security firm..
Swanage has 6 student bedrooms and sleeps up to 12 students at one time, who share 3 showers and 3 bathrooms. During your stay you can enjoy free uncapped fast fibre broadband 50mbg/5mbs, Swanage also has a 56sqm cottage The Cygnet consisting of three rooms in the garden.There is a lounge/kitchenette with a large twin room with sliding doors over looking the pool and garden. En suite is a spacious walk in shower room and toilet. . There is an outdoor swimming pool, table tennis, Swanage soirées (aka South African braais) and safaris to the nearby Pilansberg National Park, where Alan is a game ranger. The local knowledge and helpful tips provided by Alan can really help you make the most of your stay in South Africa.
Swanage has playstation 4, a large barbeque, table tennis and a home gymn.
Johannesburg has regular electrical outages owing to load shedding. At Swanage there is back-up power, to supply the TV, lights, WIFI hotspot and plug sockets. There is also a gas geyser which allows cooking (on gas hob) and hot showers during times of load shedding.
WATER
Swanage has its own filtered borehole water. So water outages which are common in South Africa are now no longer a problem for the Swans.
At Swanage you are encouraged to treat the house as your home, invite your friends and enjoy being involved in a community of like minded students.