Jo’burg

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The end of the overland adventure and we say goodbye to everyone (and the truck!). We’ve arranged to be picked from the Putfontein Rd exit of the road into to Jo’burg by Juan of Mufasa Backpackers. Dumi overshoots though so we end up clambering up the embankment with all our kit (heavy work)!

Mufasa ( named after the lion king character) is a nice place; big gardens, nice pool, and a large room with ensuite. Thought we’d like a bit of privacy after 35 days of communal living.

Juan does a braai (BBQ) for supper - chicken, steak, succulent pork, corn, salads and pumpkin ( mixed with butter & sugar - to die for) - terrific and all for less than a fiver each! All washed down with some nice & v cheap SA wine.. Wireless internet means we can catch up with blog uploads again but in renewing our anti-virus protection we lose access to Hotmail. V frustrating.

Spend a full day visiting Soweto, the Mandela family home museum ( where he lived for 15 years before he was imprisoned), Hector Peterson memorial museum (a 13 year old shot dead by police in the youth protest marches in 1976, a moment which changed the history of SA)), and the Apartheid Museum which has an instructive & inspiring expo on Steve Biko murdered 30 years ago by the state. The museum makes C realise how uninformed she was about the struggles in SA when she was growing up. It’s educational and very worth visiting. Hadn’t realised that apartheid wasn’t established until 1948 and lasted until 1991.

Soweto was inspirational. Wherever you go in predominantly white areas, homes are walled in with barbed or electric wire and connections to armed intruder response units. In Soweto, homes are wonderfully free of such barriers. It feels like a proper community. 3.5 million people live there; millionaire’s alongside middle and low income households. Folks can even stay at a number of local B & Bs. There has been considerable investment by the government and private sector so there is a huge number of privately owned homes along side modern government housing, though many of the original government homes remain - generally two or three rooms and easily distinguishable with their corrugated roofs, and also hostels for single people which look a bit like barracks. These are now being replaced with more modern homes and facilities. There are still areas of shacks - corrugated iron and wood panels crammed together (a whole house can be brought for about 3500 Rand / £270) - but at least in Soweto they have power, sanitation and water supplies unlike the illegal shanty towns that still exist, unfortunately. We visit Mustwaledi shanty town and see a family at home. On our way back, France, our guide takes us to see Alexandra, another township where he lives. He won’t take us through there as he feels it is too dangerous in the early evening and it doesn’t have such good sewerage systems so isn’t so pleasant to visit.

The Mandela family museum in Soweto is also inspirational. Housed in his home, is a well maintained record of his life. It is also a stark contrast to the home he now occupies which we drive past later in one of the richest suburb of Jo’burg.
It’s packing next day for the flight to Cape Town - we are now on our own!!

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