Jozi

---

The Apartheid Museum is a 30min drive, Soweto is right next door, you can't go wrong, the hostel owner says. But he doesn't know I have Steven Hawkins with me...

I drive again as SH is nervous of an automatic, so he takes lead navigator role. We leave the campsite at 10:30, for the easy-highway all the way- 30min drive. Somehow we don't manage to find the very first road R24, this is where the alarm bells should have been ringing, your navigator could not find his way out of a paper bag!! After a 90min-standard road-stressful journey we rock up at the Apartheid Museum. The noise was deafening, the car park is filled with hundreds of school children all screaming and blowing horns, buses full of more arrive and the screaming and horn blowing increases. It's mayhem! Unbeknownst to us, there is a South Africa, noon, planned 5minute noise making/vuvuzela blowing. Similar to a planned one minute silence, but much noisier!

The Apartheid Museum is excellent, very well done, but slightly ad hoc on chronology, mainly due to its winding layout. You could spend many hours in there, reading all of the information and looking at the exhibits. To make the experience more real you get given a card for entry, this is a random selection or either white or non-white, you then have to enter through different doors and the segregation begins. There is a temporary Nelson Mandela exhibition which is quite emotional, especially with the background videos, one of him on the Rugby pitch shaking hands with the South African captain and one of the tears in his eyes at the Nelson Mandela concert while the numerous bands and singers sing Freeeeeee Nelson Mandela. A great, but moving day out.

The plan was to continue from here to Soweto, the South Western Township, the most touristy township but probably a good starting place for our culture trip. Unfortunately I was still driving so the navigation went awry and we ended up in central Jo’Burg, miles away from our intended destination. I called time out and took over directions from that point, we still didn’t get home until after dark but at least we took a direct route! More barbq in the campsite, even more campers have turned up so it’s a lively night. I had to down some red wine after the trauma of the day so was distraught when that ran out quickly and there was no-one sober to drive and get more. Then by some kind of miracle I meet a bloke on the way to the hostel toilets, he is running an overland truck group and has a whole truck full of quality red wine. I buy two more bottles and shock the campfire crew with my new purchase. Brilliant!!

---