South Africa 2002 Part 1: Johannesburg

We first went to South Africa in 2002 and decided to go to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pilansberg Game Reserve and finish with a few days in Sun City. After research on Jo'burg as it is known, we decided to stay in the Sandton area of Johannesburg.

We flew to Johannesburg which is in the Guateng area of South Africa on British Airways and were lucky enough to fly business class out and World Traveller Plus home. Although it was touch and go whether we were actually going to make the flight at all as we got bumped at Heathrow because the flight was so heavily over booked. We were gutted as we had been looking forward to this holiday for months. We had booked the safari which was not cheap and it was not looking good. Anyway lucky for us we got called 20 minutes before departure and told to move it quickly as they had found seats for us in Business class!!!! Oh well that's a shame we said!!!!!!



The flight was very good and BA are a great airline (although a little bit arrogant and over rated in my opinion!!!!). I slept very well all the way through but my husband found the flat beds very uncomfortable as he is over 6 foot, so struggled to get comfortable and sleep. He actually preferred World Traveller Plus as he could stretch his legs more and slept all the way through on the flight home.












We had booked into the Crowne Plaza at Sandton and the hotel was very nice. Sandton is the business district and is the best location to stay. We had only booked 2 nights in Jo'burg so it was hard deciding what to do. We went to the Sandton shopping centre and one of the main department stores which we discovered every where we have been in South Africa is Woolworths. I likened it to Marks and Spencer's!!! I do not know if they are linked but the stores are set out in the same way, the departments are the same and the items they sell are virtually the same.

We booked a tour of Johannesburg which is just a city with no particular interesting features and there are still memories of apartheid which had finished 8 years earlier. There were signs above shops and restaurants saying 'Whites only' and others saying 'Non whites only'.
We were shown an area near to Soweto where a lot of rich people live and were shown Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela's house (well one of his houses!!!!) and Winney Mandelas' house to name a few. What is ironic as just down the road is Soweto (which means South West Township). This is the largest Township in Johannesburg. Most of the town ships consist of shacks with 1 outside tap if they are lucky!!! and approx 60 families to every 1 portaloo.

We noticed groups of men hanging around the roads and we had asked our tour guide if they were hitchhiking, and apparently not. They gather by roadsides every day hoping that they may get picked up for a few days work. We were also advised that Jo'burg is not a very safe city (where is these days!!!) and to keep our wits about us.
We also visited a museum near Soweto which is based on the Soweto uprising in the 70's and the apartheid troubles. I found this very upsetting as there were stories and photographs of young black children being shot for nothing and all the people who suffered because of their skin colour!!!!!

I felt very humble after visiting Soweto as the people were so happy for what they have and want to work. We do not realise how lucky we are to have clean running water and at least one toilet in our houses. If visiting Jo'burg I would definitely take a visit to Soweto.

When I flew onward to Cape Town, I flew on South African Airways which was quite expensive. We discovered a low cost budget airline called Kulula who offer very cheap fares. We flew from Cape Town to Jo'burg on another trip for less than £60 each and it is a very long way!!!!.
They use the Rand in South Africa and with Kulula operating low fares it is now very easy to get about a lot more. We did not get to the gold mines and have not been back to Jo'burg since (only passed through the airport!!) but I have been advised that this is also a must see on any trip to Jo'burg.

One thing I do recommend if you are staying in Jo'burg is to arrange a transfer via your hotel if at all possible as the airport is nuts!!!! As soon as you walk through arrivals, you are bombarded
by taxi drivers trying to pick up a fare. Its that bad they are almost fighting over you!!!!! They actually follow you and pester you for your business. As it happened the hotel we had booked into had a desk at the airport, but we should have pre booked but nobody had told us this.