Blogs from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 5

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Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg January 20th 2016

Happy New Year and the best wishes to everyone! :D "Rainbow nation" is how Desmond Tutu called South Africa after apartheid, symbolizing a multi-cultural country where the people should come together. I left Gaborone, Botswana early morning by bus towards South Africa arriving early afternoon at the bus-station in Johannesburg. South Africa’s largest city has almost 5 million inhabitants and is a major commercial and trading centre on the African continent. The city is also pretty notorious by being one of the most violent cities in the world. They don’t recommend you to walk in the city centre by yourself, not even during the day. Although I thought that they were exaggerating a lot. An average of 49 people are killed each day in South Africa but it’s highly unlikely to happen to you as a ... read more
Entrance to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg
Elephants crossing the road in Kruger National Park
View of Johannesburg from Carlton Centre

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg November 2nd 2015

L’auberge de jeunesse qui nous accueille pour nos 2 derniers jours sud-africains est différente de celle de Cape Town : + de chambres, + de passages car pas mal de personnes viennent juste pour 1 jour ou 2, plus d’infrastructures (1 navette pour les excursions, 1 restaurant, 1 bar) ; on s’y plaît bien. Dès notre arrivée le lundi soir, on sympathise avec des américains, un anglais, un sud-africain, un hollandais et une espagnole. Le mardi, nous allons à la découverte de la ville à l’aide du bus touristique City Sightseeing : vue panoramique de la ville depuis le 50e étage du plus haut gratte-ciel d’Afrique (Carlton Centre, 223 m), arrêt de 2h à l’Apartheid Museum pour se plonger dans les pages sombres et celles remplies d’espoir de la jeune nation sud-africaine, escale à la Constitution ... read more
Apartheid Museum 1 - Mandela
Apartheid Museum 2 - changement couleur
Apartheid Museum 3 - discrimination

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg October 26th 2015

Au cours de ce 1er séjour à Johannesbourg, nous avons : prolongé notre séjour à la Lodge de 2 jours pour prendre le train de mardi en direction de Cape Town. planifié notre déplacement sur Cape Town : organisation du transport aller et réflexion sur les solutions d'hébergement. Pour ce dernier point, nous avons réservé les 6 premiers jours et verrons sur place pour les 2 derniers. visionné la demi-finale de la coupe du monde de Rugby opposant les All Blacks (Nouvelle-Zélande) aux Springboks (Afrique du Sud) au milieu d'étudiants camerounais. rencontré des personnes d'origines diverses (Cameroun, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigéria, Trinidad et Tobago, Zimbabwé, etc.) ==> Johannesburg est cosmopolite. assisté à un office religieux en anglais à l'église catholique Mater Dolorosa de Kensington. effectué nos courses dans des commerces du quartier. goût... read more
Zoo Pretoria 14a
Zoo Pretoria 14b
Zoo Pretoria 1

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg October 23rd 2015

Au programme de ce 2e jour en Afrique du Sud, farniente et visite des alentours de notre lieu d'hébergement. Nous avons commencé la journée par le petit déjeuner un peu costaud du Marathon Lodge pour des estomacs non avisés : lard, frites, œufs, champignons, beurre, confiture et boisson chaude (café / thé). S'en est suivi une ballade à travers le Rhodes Park, parc local assez vaste et plutôt bien aménagé. Puis nous avons erré jusqu'à découvrir un petit centre commercial nommé Darras Center, toujours à Kensington. La recherche d'une carte postale à expédier à mes ex-collègues s'est avérée être mission impossible; à la place j'ai vu un nombre important de carte de vœux. Découverte intéressante de la matinée : l'enseigne Pick and Pay, sorte de supermarché où l'on peut se procurer pas mal d'objets du quotidien ... read more
Kensington Park 2
Kensington Park 3
Tour près du stade de foot de Johannesburg

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg October 22nd 2015

Nous sommes arrivés à l'aéroport international O.R. Tambo de Johannesbourg à 7h ce matin. Après 15h de voyage, nous sommes crevés et un peu à cran. Premières actions : retirer des sous en devise locale, et trouver un moyen de contacter la maison d'hôtes où nous avons réservé quelques nuits, pour voir s'ils peuvent venir nous chercher à l'aéroport. Notre 1ère destination : Marathon Lodge, Kensington. Pour contacter la maison d'hôtes, l'accès à une cabine téléphonique fonctionnelle à l'aéroport s'avère un échec. Quelqu'un nous suggère d'acheter une recharge téléphonique pour pouvoir passer notre appel depuis son mobile. Nous optons pour une autre solution, plus utile pour nous sur le long terme : l'achat d'une carte SIM locale (choix de l'opérateur Cell-C) et la charge d'un crédit de communication initial. Une fois notre futur logis joint, je ... read more

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg October 18th 2015

So we had returned to Johannesburg. This time we were a little more apprehensive as we had left in such an interesting way. Again we arrived in the dark so didn't really get to see what the place was like. We awoke the next morning and David and Beatrix took us into the city. They had a specific destination in mind and we weaved through the streets in what seemed to me a very complex route, to get there. As we got close to where we were going I noticed the streets had become a lot more run-down. There was much more graffiti on the walls, more posters for Penis Enlargements and Abortions (in Johannesburg they are printed in glorious technicolor, in contrast to Cape Town where they are in black), and more people begging at ... read more
Arts on Main - JNB Culinary and Pastry School Stall
Lindsey Tasting the Beer
Prickly Pear

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg » Sandton October 11th 2015

Three weeks in the Slow Town was quite enough for a pair of global travellers. The time came to leave and we found ourselves at the tiny airport of George saying goodbye to Sharon and Gandalf after a frantic morning of packing and cleaning. This airport was to be our playground for the next 6 hours. It has a Wimpy, a coffee shop and not much more. One thing it does have though is a wifi signal. The time went rapidly. After a smooth two hour flight we emerged in Africa's biggest international airport, Johannesburg. We had two main priorities... Getting food and picking up the hire car. We found an indifferent Asian fusion "restaurant" and whilst Lindsey ordered for us both and watched our baggage I went to find the car. I followed signs for ... read more
Half-hearted Police Action
Witkoppen Road
Extent of the Disturbance

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg September 3rd 2015

Geo: -26.1538, 28.0389Flying with Air MauritiusThere are several airlines that fly to Madagascar from South Africa, South African Airlines, Kenyan Airlines and Air Mauritius and Air Madagascar. We did not want to fly with Air Madagascar because they had been on strike and had a bad record for on time departures. The price for South African Airlines and Air Mauritius were about the same and with Air Mauritius you were allowed a free stop over which would allow us to visit Mauritius after Madagascar.After a night of having too much fun and laughter with Rob and Tabitha, got to the airport at 7:30 only to find our flight time had been delayed until around 2:30 in the afternoon! Since we had not book our tickets directly through Air Mauritius, we were not aware until we got ... read more
all smiles
now with Jacqueline
Tabitha and Laura

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg » Melville August 14th 2015

Warning! Do not read this entry if you are sensitive to scary factual stories…Please stop reading after this sentence, but know that I am OK and alive and things like that. So I had a hard time deciding if I would post this story because I don’t want to scare anyone off or have people worry about me more than they already are, but being true to the point of this blog (regaling my accounts of my adventures) I have chosen to share a doosy of a story. After a fun night exploring the 7th street area of Melville (the suburb of Joburg Ive been staying in) with a South African guy named Villem another buddy from England named Jon asked if I would like to stretch my legs and check out a park down the ... read more
this is all they left me...
one of these turned into a scar but its small so it will fade
roughed up

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg » Soweto August 12th 2015

Time for a proper tour of Johannesburg! Today I found myself heading on an organized tour heading to the Apartheid Museum, Soweto, Nelson Mandela’s house as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s house, and a few other museums and points of interest. So I really like going to museums. I believe it is a good representation of what the people have decided is important in a certain area, culture, or field. For those of you who don’t know, apartheid is basically legal racism. Similar to the discriminatory rules used in the 60s in the US, but a lot tougher with a lot more severe consequences. Very rough stuff. So this museum was said to take 3 hours to get through. I usually burn through em pretty quickly so I was disgruntled when that was how long the ... read more
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