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Johannesburg from afar

Johannesburg was both our arrival and departure city for an eleven-week stay in South Africa. We had had an invitation to South Africa for many years from our friend Pam, but it always seemed far too far away from the US for a typical summer holiday and since we had started our permanent travels had seemed to Jan to be just too dangerous. But in Sydney we had found a great round-the-world ticket from Lufthansa that allowed a stopover in South Africa. It was one of those serendipitous opportunities that even Jan felt we could not miss. So heart-in-mouth, for Jan, we arrived in Johannesburg around mid-day towards the end of January, and so in the southern hemisphere's mid-summer.

Suburban housing near the Oliver Tambo International Airport

The flight from Sydney took eleven hours and crossed nine time zones and so we were pretty exhausted on arrival. The airport terminal was small and a bit rundown compared to the new big airports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen and even Sydney. Our first task after clearing customs and immigration was of course to find somewhere to stay. It might surprise some to learn that even here, we made no advance bookings. It is our habit and is a hard one to break. We almost always find somewhere acceptable on arrival and if not, then we can change hotels very quickly!

Jan already on the ground

As usual we had bought a Lonely Planet and on the plane had selected what we thought was the best compromise between price, safety and comfort, not necessarily in that order. Jan was elected to make a phone call and try and arrange not only a room, but also transportation for us from the airport. The South African English accent proved a bit difficult, but eventually we had a room and instructions on how to be found by our complimentary taxi. They were basically: go and sit near the Nando's restaurant and wait until someone comes by with a placard with the backpacker's hotel name on it.

The Arrival Hall

We rather blindly followed the instructions and took time out to have a bit to eat while waiting. Gerry in particular was not at all sure that our taxi driver would arrive, but after the specified time (about 40 minutes) we noticed the placard, made ourselves known and placed ourselves in the hands of our driver.

Following our luggage to our taxi

The ride from the airport was unexciting, which was very satisfactory as far as Jan was concerned, and took us on a city freeway and then through various suburban neighborhoods to the one that contained our backpacker's.

Automatic Gate to our Backpacker Hotel

But imagine Jan's horror when she found that in this quiet-looking neighborhood, the hotel felt the need for a massive heavy automatic steel gate, ten-foot walls, and barbed wire! She wasn't quite sure she hadn't made a mistake and booked us into a prison camp. Rather than reassure her, the safety measures almost convinced her to go right back to the airport and call the whole thing off.

One of our bags in front of Reception

But of course she didn't. The backpacker's was obviously a former wealthy suburban home with accommodation in the main house supplemented with additional small buildings in the large (acre-plus) garden. These buildings had the en-suite rooms, one of which we had booked. The room was simple but clean and the bed was small but comfortable and at this point all we wanted to do was go to sleep. We ordered breakfast for the following morning, checked out the kitchen facilities and then went to bed.

Gerry in a shoe store at the ?? Mall

The next morning after an OK breakfast on the verandah in front of reception, we joined other guests on the free shuttle (the van that had brought us the previous day) to the local shopping center to buy groceries so that we could make future breakfasts and other meals ourselves in the large, well-equipped kitchen. The shopping center looked just like an American mall and could have been anywhere in the US or Europe if one didn't listen too closely to the languages being spoken. Most of the customers were white, but not all. Most of the shop clerks were black, but not all. A first taste of South Africa.

The Wimpy's Fast Food Restaurant - Spot the Hidden Tourist

Actually, as the photo above clearly shows, quite a few of the customers were elderly white folk from nearby retirement homes. They too came on some kind of shuttle bus. Of the five days we spent in Johannesburg, I believe we came to the shopping mall three times. For Jan, it was like a security blanket, a home away from home, where she felt that life was normal and she didn't need to be afraid. Being afraid was still a big part of being in Johannesburg for her.

Selling a Mobile Phone

After buying food, a very high priority for us was to get equipped with South African mobile phones. Gerry already had a phone and needed only a SIM card, Jan needed both. Fortunately it proved very easy. Jan got herself a small, inexpensive Motorola phone, complete with SIM card and a bit of airtime. We immediately got top-ups and so were well-provided for. We never needed to use the phones for security reasons, but it was nice to know they were there, just-in-case, and they proved useful for calling ahead to book hotel rooms when we were on the road.

Downtown Johannesburg

On our third or fourth day at the hostel, we hooked up with two young Dutchmen and jointly rented a taxi to take us across town to the Apartheid Museum, arguably the most famous museum in Johannesburg. Going there the taxi driver drove us through the downtown area, but became increasingly nervous as he saw Gerry rolling down the window to take photos with his rather large Panasonic Lumix camera. Gerry asked him to make a small detour to drive in front of some famous sight and he refused saying it was more than his life was worth.

Johannesburg Freeway

On the return journey, before we got into the taxi, our driver immediately removed the taxi sign from his roof, saying that we would be safer if it wasn't obvious we were tourists. He said he always did this when driving white tourists around to make them look less conspicuous. He said it was for his protection too, because he didn't want the windows on his taxi broken by thieves trying to get at Gerry's camera, for instance. But in spite of his fears and ours, we never came even close to being robbed or attacked by criminals. The worst that happened was a small altercation over a parking space.

The taxi-driver who took us to the Apartheid Museum

The museum itself is described elsewhere. A must-see if you are visiting Johannesburg.

Delivery of our Volkswagen Golf, known in SA as a Chico

When we weren't at the museum or the mall, much of our time was spent trying to decide what kind of car to get to take us around South Africa. We didn't want to spend too much time at either end and Jan in particular wanted a vehicle she could rely on. The obvious solution was a rental car. It only needed to be big enough to carry us and our bags. We planned to take to heart Lonely Planet's advice not to pick up passengers. We only broke the rule once picking up two young women who were headed into town from a rural area. Another of our rules was never to drive in the dark. The only time we broke this rule or was in Durban when we were visiting our friend Pam and we all went out for an evening concert.

The car in the photo was our choice and it turned out to be great. We never had mechanical trouble and didn't at all miss things like remote locking or automatic windows. There were times when we might have liked some air-conditioning, but on the whole we did very well without it even though we were in Kruger at the height of summer. One thing we were very happy with was the radio. We listened to Radio South Africa everywhere we went and got to know the hosts of various political discussion shows that we listened to regularly. It taught us lots about South Africa, the problems it faces, and the potential it has.