Blogs from Roodepoort, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa

Johannesburg is one of those places that has many assumptions and generalisations surrounding it. These assumptions are commonly made by those people who haven't actually visited the city, but who feel they should spread the word about what they've heard. Unfortunately most of the things these people have heard, are bad. I learnt this interesting point of fact before I arrived here in South Africa as I was warned by many of my closest friends and family about the dangers that await me in Joburg (Johannesburg). Of course I was told about all the crime and corruption that happens here. I was told that I'll land myself in trouble if I choose to travel to this country. I was also told that the country was extremely poor, having no clean water or electricity and that most ... read more

From the previous entry: “From Nasca the road went on to Lima, where we arrived fairly early in the afternoon but had to spend a good time looking for a decent priced hotel.” Lima proved to be the end-station for us in South America. At least as far as our traveling is concerned; not the end of our troubles though. After all the things I didn´t like about South America: the rain, the insects but above all the corruption, thieving and fault-finding, the pettiness and intolerance, topped by the sheer indifference and incompetence of forwarding personnel to get our car into a container and send it off to Durban. I´ll come back to that. But before I do, I must admit we saw interesting and beautiful things as well and we look back at fabulous experiences. ... read more

Walter Sisulu Nationa Botanical Gardens, there are actually no words to describe. There is so much serenity there. Go with a partner or go by yourself, Picnic basket, or just a hike up the waterfall. Learn about trees, and plants, and look up at their mysterious black eagle.... read more

Geo: -26.1533, 27.3168We went to the gardens for a quick visit this afternoon. There wasn't anything happening at the hide. The only interesting thing we saw were a variety of butterflies and bugs.... read more

Geo: -26.153, 27.8657This morning I met Paul's friend Lindin, who came over for a visit. We were all called outside by Paul's parents to see something strange. It was called a 'sundog'. It looked like a double round rainbow that went around the sun. It was an amazing sight. I had never seen one before. At first the rainbow colours were quite bright and then it slowly faded. We had a look on the internet and the TV. The news reports were calling it an infrequent phenomenon. It was only visible in Johannesburg. People who were interviewed on the TV gave a variety of responses to their interpretation of its appearance. The three of us then went for a drive to one of the ponds in the estate. Here we saw water lilies, many tadpoles, Red ... read more