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Published: December 9th 2023
Champagne Sundowner
Alto 234 Bar, SandtonDear All
Greetings, on this my final entry on my amazing journey through South Africa in the summer of 2023. It really was an epic trip, definitely one of the best ones up there alongside recent trips to Japan, Scandinavia and the Galapagos Islands, and I've also been enjoying very much writing up these travel blog entries, re-living all those adventures again! My final few days were spent in and around the country's powerhouse central state of Gauteng, in the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, with a total cumulative population of a staggering 14 million people! It felt quite something to finally be in the beating heart of South Africa after travelling through its regions for so long, almost like an exciting culmination and climax of a highly eventful journey, and my time there certainly did not disappoint!
After arriving back a bit dusty and grimy after my three nights in the African bush at Kruger, it was lovely returning to my Kempton Park Guesthouse again, and having the luxuries of a massive bed, good lighting, and en-suite bathroom. My first night back though was rather unusual I must admit. After getting quite a few static electric shocks in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg CBD my new room at the guesthouse, I was just about to crawl into bed for the evening when I got some quite bad shocks from the duvet. This was around 10pm, and although late I called my host as I was actually quite scared, wondering if there was some short circuiting wire somewhere, and wondering whether I'd be electrocuted in my sleep. He arrived quickly and looked at me as if I was crazy or on drugs or something when he didn't get any shocks himself. I did feel a little crazy and questioned my own sanity, but I certainly got the shocks. He said there were no other duvets, and left me to it, which I was rather miffed about. I slept that night with just a blanket and a cushion for a pillow. In the morning I googled it, as must the owner have done, and learned that this can happen with nylon or polyester sheets and a dry, cold climate, which is certainly what we had there. The owner contacted me first thing in the morning and profusely apologised, giving me a cotton bed set for the next night. It was a very strange experience for both
of us I think, and we both learned something new that night!
As mentioned in a previous blog, I had passed through Johannesburg three times already on this trip, and through the airport twice on a previous trip - I now felt really quite ready and excited to explore this intriguing city. I wasn't too nervous actually, despite all the horror stories of it being the murder capital of the world etc. I felt a little more atuned to walking in a large South African city after my time in Cape Town and Durban, and felt ready to smile and be nice when needed, and to avoid and walk swiftly if also needed. After my time in Cape Town, I decided to do the City Sightseeing Bus Tour also of Johannesburg, and it was a really good choice as it covered all the main sights I wanted to see, and gave me a good perspective of the overall city layout. It was also a safe place to take good pictures from, and avoided the need to use local public transport or constantly looking for a WiFi spot to book an Uber from. I enjoyed the day very much.
Me and My Guide
Welcome to Soweto I started the day with an Uber from my guesthouse to Rosebank, a huge and very modern shopping complex to the north of the city centre, which would not look amiss in places such as Singapore or Miami. The first city bus loop travelled by some seriously posh mansions and private schools in the upper class neighbourhood of Houghton. Johannesburg is a city built on gold and riches, and nowhere was this so obvious as in this neighbourhood. It is apparently the largest city in the world not located on a water source such as a river, lake or coastline, and was created simply because of the gold rush which began there around 150 years ago. They also call it the largest man-made forest in the world, as despite the amount of trees throughout the green and leafy urban conurbation today, they are not the natural vegetation of this high veld region. The state's name of Gauteng actually means "Gold Region" in the local African language. It felt an exciting and vibrant, if a little edgy, city to explore.
After the posh mansions of Houghton, and a pass through a private school area including glimpsing Johannesburg's famous St John's
College, I switched to the tour's second loop at Constitution Hill, which I planned to explore later. This headed past numerous views of Johannesburg's photogenic Hillbrow Tower, over the massive railway sidings area leaving the city's central Park Station, with the Nelson Mandela Bridge, built in 2003, photogenically flying over, on through the CBD which I would explore by foot the next day, and on to Gold Reef City, casino, hotel and amusement park complex, to the south of town, to start my Soweto bus tour, which could be added on to the bus tour ticket price. The Soweto tour was just great, led by a very friendly and talkative guide and his driver-accomplice, in a red-painted minibus that travelled through the main areas of this oh-so-famous South African township with a population of just over a million people, and whose name is formed by abbreviating its original name of "South West Township". We first took in the huge FNB stadium, originally built in 1986 and expanding in 2009 to fit nearly 100,000 spectators in time for the country's famous hosting of the 2010 World Cup. After this we officially entered Soweto, as we paused to take photos at a
"Welcome to Soweto" sign - the guide taught us the local way of greeting which involved touching fists, and then clicking thumbs. We headed past the famous Soweto Towers, which reminded me of a pair of cooling towers that once existed on the outskirts of Sheffield until they were sadly demolished in 2008 - I felt a sense of kinship with Soweto there to be honest, with my own urban-grit roots in the north of England. We stopped for around half-an-hour at the Hector Pieterson Memorial, in the lovely square in front of the Hector Pieterson Museum, dedicated to the memory of 14-year-old Hector Pieterson who was shot and killed in 1976 during the Anti-Apartheid Soweto uprising riots in the township, and famously photographed being carried away by 20-year-old Mbuyisa Makhubo and whose whereabouts have since remained a mystery. The highlight of my Soweto tour, however, just had to be seeing Nelson Mandela's house there, although we only had time to take a couple of photos from outside before the minibus tour moved on. It felt right to have visited the man's home in Johannesburg, as pretty much my journey since Cape Town has been tracing the life story of
this hero of mine, including passing through the area of his birth, visiting his capture site near Durban and prison cell on Robben Island, and seeing places where he gave some of his famous speeches from, including the Cape Town City Hall, and later Pretoria's Union Buildings. Finally, we passed by nearby Desmond Tutu's and Winnie Mandela's houses, before heading back to Gold Reef City to pick up the bus tour from there again.
My next stop, literally the next one on the tour which would have been far quicker to walk to upon hindsight, was the really excellent Apartheid Museum. To be honest, by now I was feeling a little Apartheid-ed out! While I very much enjoyed visiting sights related to the life of Nelson Mandela, I felt I had pretty much learned everything I needed to know thus far about Apartheid, although the experience there of actually being given a racial category with your ticket upon entrance (I got the "European" category) and subsequently entering the museum through separate doors was rather sobering. The Museum was really good and very educational, and a particular highlight was seeing a Casspir armoured vehicle, both inside and out, notoriously used
to quell any Anti-Apartheid protests throughout South Africa. Something else that particularly stood out for me was the 1969 case of Dr Zureena Desai, who was charged under the Immorality Act as being from a "coloured" background and having relations with a white gentleman, Professor John Blacking. There were photos of the two beautiful people attending their court case, along with secret service police snooping outside Professor Blacking's house looking for evidence, before they were forced to emigrate to the UK. I also appreciated photos of the Anti-Apartheid and Boycott South Africa protests from London and the UK, which I vaguely remember growing up as a child in the 1980s.
My next stop on the bus tour, at the afore-mentioned Constitution Hill, actually added even more to my understanding of Apartheid. Here I joined a tour of the notorious prisons there, for black male, black female and white prisoners, which were pretty busy during the Apartheid period. I was quite surprised to learn about the amount of white anti-Apartheid activists who were imprisoned there, though shocked to hear of their brutal treatment, particularly of Dr Neil Aggett whose case I had learned about back in the Apartheid Museum, and
Posh Mansion
Houghton, Johannesburg who died while in detention, being held without trial under the 1976 Internal Security Amendment Act which allowed for imprisonment of those deemed a danger to national security for an indefinite amount of time. Dr Aggett's death was recorded as suicide by hanging, but no-one believed or believes that. Constitution Hill was also a place where both Gandhi and Mandela were held for a time - although they were both incarcerated there at different times and thus they never got to meet each other, their stories are very similar, and I understand that the former very much influenced the latter, as well as Martin Luther King. Mandela's incarceration there actually took place in the prison's hospital wing in a seemingly-comfortable hospital bed and cell - it was deemed that any kind of prison escape or rescue would be more difficult from there than in the main prison section. I also briefly visited the women's prison, where Winnie Mandela was held for a time - incidentally, I'm not a big fan of Winnie due to her calls for revenge on the white people once Apartheid was over, and her involvement in violence and the "necklacing" of those who were accused of
Posh Mansion
Houghton, Johannesburg spying for the Apartheid state.
The highlight of my time on Constitutional Hill, however, was actually the Constitutional Court just nextdoor, a visit to which was included in my tour. The decor inside is fascinatingly based on a large African tree, under which agreements were often traditionally settled in times gone by. There were also some good views to be had from Constitution Hill over the nearby, highly no-go area of Hillbrow to the east. This was once a popular enclave of young, arty types during the Apartheid years, which was quickly settled by immigrants from other countries since this era ended and has become a notorious enclave of crime and depravation - not a place I was interested in exploring, though I appreciated having a bit of a look-see over it from the safety of Constitution Hill. After this, I took the last tour bus back to Rosebank, to take an Uber back to my guesthouse, with once more another wonderful and very inspirational taxi driver.
Most people I met in South Africa, including taxi drivers, assumed I was a white South African when meeting me, but upon learning I was English, some great conversations were started,
Posh Mansions
Houghton, Johannesburg such as this one. While he said he was most impressed with my "bravery" on travelling to foreign countries alone, I said I was most impressed with his bravery for being a taxi driver in such a crazy city. This was particularly so after he told me the story of his taxi driver friend who was robbed of all his belongings, except his car (!), in Soweto - not such a safe place as they would have you believe! They told him that if he went to the police they would kill him. This was shocking stuff. No wonder most of the taxi drivers I met didn't work at night, and I continued to make sure I was back in my accommodation and behind an electric fence again before nightfall. I was very grateful that there were no electric shocks this night, just a wonderful night's sleep!
My final full day in Africa was just great, with a couple of treats to mark the end of this seriously amazing journey. I spent the day travelling around Gauteng state, using the fantastic Gautrain. While Johannesburg does have a comprehensive metro system, it is highly advised for anyone not to use
it, even more so for a white foreigner like myself, as it is dangerous and unreliable. However, the Gautrain is very safe, linking Johannesburg, its airport, and South Africa's main capital city of Pretoria, as well as a few stops in between. It was fast, modern, reliable and very safe, with lots of armed guards everywhere. On that morning I took an Uber to Marlboro Station, and first headed to Hatfield, an upmarket suburb of Pretoria. Just as we were approaching the city of Pretoria, I caught a good glimpse and took a good photo of the famous Voortrekker Monument just on its outskirts, which has become a symbol over the years of the stalwart and steadfast nature of the Afrikaaner people of South Africa, marking in particular their journeys into the South African hinterland as they left the control and confines of the British Empire back in the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854 in search of a more peaceful, independent existence.
The Gautrain also has a good system of cheap and reliable buses at most of its stops, to connect with other places nearby. Upon arrival in Hatfield, I took one of these buses up to the
Hillbrow Tower
Johannesburg CBD beautiful and imposing Union Buildings overlooking the grand city of Pretoria below. These are the central government offices of the South African state, and were where Nelson Mandela's 1994 inauguration ceremony took place, where he famously promoted reconciliation of all throughout South Africa, along with the proclamation of a "Rainbow Nation". While you can't go inside the buildings, you can certainly appreciate their immensity and beauty from the outside, along with their commanding views over the expansive grounds below, and the skyscrapers and cityscape of Pretoria in the distance.
After a few photos up there on high, I headed downhill for a two-mile walk into central Pretoria, which although buzzing, had surely seen better days. Such has been the case with all large South African cities I'd been to - their traditional CBD areas have become rather decrepit and edgy, while the majesty of their original buildings remain albeit in a forlorn and crumbling state. The nearby suburbs have become the new place to be for the country's well-off, and places such as the afore-mentioned Rosebank, as well as Sandton, are becoming new, upmarket and swish out-of-town centres. Pretoria's CBD was the only place in the whole of my
Old Building
Johannesburg CBD South African journey where I experienced some dodginess. This occurred in its central Church Square surrounding a statue of Paul Kruger, completely caged off to the visitor presumably due to potential vandalism of a statue of one of the first presidents of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. The Square itself was surrounded by seriously beautiful and highly photogenic buildings, including the Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela and his associates were formally charged with treason at the notorious Rivonia Trial, and subsequently avoided the death penalty to be jailed for life.
It was ironically in front of this very building of justice where I was approached by a tall guy with a cap saying "Security" and a name badge, both making him seem quite official. He told me that I needed a "Walking Pass". Fortunately I wasn't born yesterday, and had heard of such scams where official-looking people approach you and tell you you need to part with some money in order to be there. They then take you to an "office" or an ATM, surrounded by their fellow hoodlums, and rob you. I told him that I wasn't sure I trusted him, to which he
Hillbrow Tower
Johannesburg CBD became very aggressive, and I walked off with him shouting after me. This wasn't a very pleasant experience at all. I reported him to some nearby police officers who were just standing around, who did nothing except to tell me to be careful of such people, particularly with the colour of my skin. This was not very helpful, almost as helpful as UK Police Officers in challenging real crime. Fortunately I wasn't too affected by this, and continued to walk around amongst lots of people to feel safer, who were mostly very friendly and often returned my smiles and greetings.
I walked on to the nearby Melrose House Museum, where the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed in 1902 to end the Second Anglo-Boer War, though the queue to get in with mostly student-aged young people put me off visiting, so I headed further on to Pretoria's own Gautrain Station to continue my explorations of Gauteng further afield.
I took the train this time into Johannesburg's Park Station in the middle of the CBD, to properly explore this place this time on foot. From here I took another Gautrain connecting bus to Marshall Street, to stop in at South
Africa's most exclusive gentleman's club, the Rand Club, the local equivalent to London's highly exclusive Reform Club. Upon arrival, the huge guy on the door looked me up and down muttering to himself, and I realised quite quickly that I really wasn't dressed well for the occasion in my scruffy shorts, t-shirt and hiking boots. When he learned I was from the UK, and that I was so excited to visit there for a spot of lunch at the very famous Rand Club, through some sweet-talking, he checked with the lady on reception that there were no actual Club members inside, and they let me in - yay! I enjoyed a lovely Caprese Salad and a Creme Brulee for dessert, surrounded by sheer opulence and colonial beauty. I must admit I did feel a bit conspicuous when some other, far better-dressed diners arrived, but who cares I thought. And all this plus a coke with ice for less than a tenner, you can really live like a king in this country!
Next up was a short six-block CBD walk to a tall building called the Carlton Centre, home according to my Lonely Planet to the "Top of Africa", the
highest building viewpoint on the continent apparently. But when I got there, I learned that it had been closed since the c-word situation and has not reopened again since. That was a shame, and there was no Johannesburg viewpoint for me, not yet at least...! I decided to walk the ten blocks or so back to Park Station again, but it ended up being about 20 blocks as first of all I headed off in the wrong direction (!), and later had to take a detour due to some roadworks. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the walk and it gave me a good insight into the workings of Johannesburg's CBD, again edgy yet fascinating at the same time. I was definitely the only white guy there during my whole walk. Park Station was surprisingly safe and modern, and I'd expected the CBD's main train station to be much dodgier than it was. It in fact felt safe and much cleaner than most large European train stations I've been to.
With a couple of hours of daylight left on my last full day, I made a last-minute decision to head to the suburb of Sandton, Johannesburg's banking district, filled with some seriously
plush and upmarket hotels. They call Sandton Africa's richest square mile, and I could well believe it. It was also hosting at the time the international BRICS conference, held in Johannesburg from 23rd to 25th August. I knew this was being held in South Africa at this time as I'd read and seen quite a bit about it before arriving there, but I didn't know it was in Sandton. I was thus pleasantly surprised by the real buzz of the place, with important cars and police cars flying around, and lots of international news reporters, journalists and cameramen all around. I got talking to one of the news reporters from an Arabic Sky channel, who actually let me have his microphone for a picture! We lamented over how few western journalists were there at this big occasion, the meeting of the leaders and representatives of such important nations as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. I can quite predict that many people reading this in the western world will have had no idea that this conference was taking place, such is the paucity of coverage of non-western-related news in the western mainstream media. We really do need to know
this is happening, but the powers that be do not seem to want us to know. BRICS is the grouping of the world's most important developing economies, being an acronym of the afore-mentioned countries, which some predict will overtake global politics by 2050. With the current state the western world is in, and its increasing and absolute obsession with non-issues ahead of real, pressing issues which affect the daily material lives of its people, I can quite believe this to be the case, and do not believe I wouldn't welcome it. And during this meeting, they accepted six more countries into the group: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran - goodness knows what they'll rename it to! Indeed, the western world really should clue themselves up on this.
After watching the busy comings and goings outside the conference centre as the day's discussions were coming to an end, I headed to a dominating skyscraper a couple of blocks away to check it out. I had seen this very tall and imposing building from a number of places I'd been to in Johannesburg and around thus far, and learned that it is a multi-purpose building composed of
a hotel, residential and commercial interests. There is also a bar right at the top called Alto 234, so-called due to the 234m height of the building which I learned was called The Leonardo. It is currently Africa's tallest building, replacing the afore-mentioned Carlton Centre's 223m when it was completed in 2019, but will shortly be overtaken by Morocco's 250m Mohammed VI Tower in Rabat due to be completed this year. While I had missed out on what had been Africa's tallest building and viewpoint when my Lonely Planet was written back in Johannesburg's CBD, I just happened to stumble on what was now Africa's tallest building, there in Sandton instead - what genius!
When I initially learned that it would cost 330 Rand to make a table booking which was needed to visit the Alto 234 bar I thought it a tad too expensive, but then once I'd converted it into around £15 I realised it was quite a bargain! Since this was my last evening in South Africa, I "splashed out", and later learned that the booking fee for a table included a complimentary glass of champagne! This was just a perfect way to spend my last
evening on this epic South Africa trip, watching the sun go down over this massive city in style, 234 metres up in the air over it with a glass of Moet and Chandon in hand. I had gotten my cityscape view after all, and a wonderful nightcap to toast the end of what had truly been an epic and wonderful journey! I was at peace.
Booking and getting an Uber home once the sun had gone down was no easy feat though. I was trying to find some free WiFi somewhere, and once I'd found it in a fast food joint in a shopping centre, I had to hightail it around 300 metres within one minute to the pick-up place amongst the busy-ness of the traffic-filled conference closure. But I did manage it, miraculously finding my car in the middle of the mayhem, and ended up with another brilliant taxi driver!
As I believe I have mentioned in a previous blog, I truly believe that to know a country, you only have to sit in the back of a taxi cab. These people would make the best politicians, as they know the people far more than the average
career politician and the political class could ever do. This chap was a father-of-four, who was earning a bit of extra money for his family driving a taxi in the evenings, after his day job as a customs official was over. He also wouldn't taxi drive after dark in the city, and I was his last job before he headed home not far from my own accommodation drop-off point. He told me another horror story of how a colleague of his was robbed while taxi driving. These are such brave people, with such shocking stories. Yet despite this, the country I had found was proud, strong and resilient. I can only imagine how such decades, centuries even, of hardship and conflict in a country can affect a people. The taxi driver confirmed to me that in such circumstances, people can only learn to be content with their lot, enjoy the day-to-day life, and forgive.
The people and country of South Africa have been through so much, yet throughout my time there I only found happy, proud and resilient people, optimistic and confident in themselves, their place in their world, and their future. Thank you South Africa, I have truly
enjoyed every moment I spent in your beautiful country, and now my epic journey is over, I will try hard to process and make sense of what I have seen - a country whose past and existence can only serve to help the visitor learn about the complexities, struggles and triumphs of the human experience.
My journey home was fine, although due to a plane route diversion to avoid flying over Niger because of a conflict and a ban on its airspace there, the first leg to Frankfurt ended up being an hour longer. I had already been notified about this, and was fortunately able to rebook myself onto a London Heathrow flight from Frankfurt leaving only an hour later, thank goodness! There was yet another train strike happening in London again upon my return, though this happily led to me discovering yet another route between Heathrow and Croydon. This was from Heathrow to Whitechapel on the newly-built Elizabeth Line, and then the Overground to West Croydon. This was really just perfect, as from the adjoining West Croydon Bus Station leaves a bus that drops me right at a bus stop directly in front of my house - my
very own, much cheaper, taxi service!
I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer travelling through South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland - it has certainly been one of those epic journeys, up there with the best of them! I do have a number of mini-trips planned for the year ahead, as well as another two-week US trip around Easter, and another epic 40-day adventure next summer! I plan of course, as always, to write up about them here. So until the next time, wherever that may be, thanks very much for reading, and all the very best for now!
Traveller Al
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John Miranda
John & Miranda
Pretoria & Johannesburg
Good to see you avoided the "issue" near the conclusion of the trip. It is ironic that we felt safest of all the big cities in Pretoria. A good trip, well recorded .... but interesting to read that the the country has not really moved on in terms of the security situation since 2006 and the average enforcer of law and order remains seemingly as disinterested as ever. I have pulled "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by Gavin Bell off the bookshelf to wake further memories of our time in the Rainbow Nation.