A traveller's reflection: South Africa 1996: Johannesburg

"If we can see the positive sides of everything, you'll be able to live a much richer life than others..." - Celestine Chua

Johannesburg, South Africa

(10 - 13 November 1996)

Hubby was invited as a resource person for an International Seminar held in Kwa Maritane. I accompanied him throughout the trip and have the opportunity to do my own adventuring in the Safari Park. Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge is a luxury accommodation in the Pilansberg offers all the amenities of an exclusive resort within the Pilanesberg National Park, an easy drive of 2 hours from Johannesburg or about 3 km from the airport.

We spent a few nights at the Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge where the rooms are spacious and all have magnificent views. Pilanesberg is one of the largest volcanic complexes of its kind in the world. It’s unusual rock structures, and types make it a unique geological feature. The crater of a long extinct volcano stands in the centre of the Pilanesberg National Park created by volcanic eruptions over 1400 million years ago. The lodge’s main restaurant overlooks the waterhole and the Rocky hill with its magnificent granite formations.

In our free time we visited attractions in Johannesburg and the Sun City. Later, we spent a few days in Cape Town and drove up to the Cape of Good Hope.

(On a Safari adventure tour)

Jo'burg or Johannesburg is by far the largest city in South Africa. It's brash, fast-growing and often ugly, but it's got wealth, energy and a beautiful climate. Many would suggest you go through Jo'burg as quickly as possible, with your valuables close to you. However, if you want to see the 'real' South Africa - and try to understand it - Jo'burg has to be on your itinerary.

(Our lodging for a few nights)

(Waiting for dinner)

While the colour lines are etched deeply, you stand a better chance of meeting blacks on relatively equal terms in Jo'burg than almost anywhere else. Unlike many South African cities where there are so few black faces you could forget that you are in Africa. Jo'burg has been reclaimed and the sidewalks are jammed with black hawkers and stalls of every description. There's also a growing multiracial music and theatre scene.

(Going for a night outing)

The so-called black townships, where conditions range from reasonable to appalling, ring the city and are a grotesque contrast to the northern suburbs. Soweto is the main township. It's an enormous, sprawling and sometimes grim spread of bungalows, houses, huts, shacks and dorms. Most white South Africans are completely ignorant of life inside the townships and few have ever been inside one. Although the townships are still in a state of acute social trauma, outsiders are not automatically targeted…