Post Number 3 - Johannesburg

Place: Johannesburg

Country: South Africa

Location: Central, North Eastern South Africa, Gauteng Province

Climate: Subtropical Highlands

The flight from Perth to Johannesburg takes eleven hours of which more than ten hours are spent looking down at the Indian Ocean. When flying west the aircraft flies with the sun, so even though we left at midnight, the whole trip was spent in darkness – apart from the last thirty minutes which was in the predawn. The city looks beautiful at that time, the yellow lights still creating contrast with the night, which had lightened enough to show hues of blue, indigo and pink. With hardly a bump we landed and taxied to our gate, which luckily, was very close to customs because OR Tambo International Airport is big. TM’s mother had traveled to South Africa 14 months previously and the airport was in the midst of being upgraded and extended for the Football World Cup in 2010. The only construction work still underway is beneath the airport, where an underground railway terminal is being built, which apparently is a replica of the Paris underground station.

The longest part of the entry process was waiting for our bags; in almost no time at all we were through customs and being whisked off by our Springbok Atlas driver to our Maxi Cab for delivery to our Ten Bompas hotel in Sandton. By this time it was light and the sun was about to sneak above the horizon – TM took a deep breathe of air and thought, I’m in Africa, at long last.

Joburg is the largest city, by far, that I have ever visited. The major, over riding first impression was the number of people walking around – almost exclusively black. Later TM found out that public transport is not very good, those who can drive and the rest use a combination of rail, bus and informal taxi’s. Most of the population use the informal minibus taxis, which carry up to seventeen very squashed passengers in vehicles that would fail road worthy certificates in Australia on almost all counts. Drivers need to keep their wits about them as these “taxi’s” stop without warning and regularly break down (and are left where the stop, mostly in the lane they were traveling in)!

There seem to be many vendors selling all sorts of goods at most sets of traffic lights. We even came across one man, leading a (supposed?) blind woman between cars, asking for donations to help him support her. TM has no idea how she survived the day without getting run over as the man leading her around was more interested in collecting donations, than looking after her welfare. Big Balls! It seemed everywhere we looked there were people selling big fluffy footballs (soccer balls) – in any colour you wanted. All to do with the World Cup that is being played in South Africa in less than twelve months. Our guide told us there was a very large influx of Zimbabweans into South Africa and this was causing undue stress in the native population as the Zimbabweans were more desperate for work and they are working harder for less money. As we all know, those two ingredients are very important to employers so many local blacks have lost their jobs and are struggling to retain their shacks and status in their townships.

Most people don’t like Joburg at all – I did. Our driver told us that the official population is around 8 million but including the illegal immigrants it is more like 11 million. I enjoyed the vibrant energy and pulse of the city. The colours, smell and movement really give it a beat and drive that I haven’t experienced before. Not that I’ve ever been in a city that big before either. And once you get over the ten foot high fences (oops walls) with razor wire (or broken glass and spears embedded in the top layer of concrete).

If our van broke down and I was stranded I’d sing a different tune I’m sure! For the cricketers amongst you, we passed “the Wanderers stadium” – it didn’t look like the fortress it has been to opposing teams for so many years. We stayed in a small hotel called Ten Bompas http://www.tenbompas.com. It lived up to its reputation and was by far the best hotel we stayed in, in Africa. The food was terrific, the service was grand, the room was exquisite and the grounds were secured, elegantly appointed and for Africa, topical but charmingly understated.

Our driver told us he lives in Pretoria because it’s much safer than Johannesburg (it’s only 50 odd kilometres away). He only had a six foot high wall around his house but relied on his 13 dogs, 3 tree snakes and 1 puff adder to convince intruders that managed to scale the fence that it was not a good idea to proceed.

A big thumbs up, from me, for Joburg.