The Jacaranda City and Soweto

---

---

We've opted to view Joburg from a safe distance - approximately 50kms away to be precise from Pretoria. After 11 weeks of listening to horror stories about Joburg and it's crime, we opted for the comparative serenity of Pretoria and it's tree lined avenues and embassies. We are based in Hatfield, which is next to the University and very convenient for the bars and shops. We teamed up with a few other people from the hostel and had an exploration of the area around the Parliament - the extensive Union Buildings, which stand impressively on a hill overlooking the city - and some of downtown. We also found a 2010 World Cup stadium that is not a figment of a planner's imagination - The Loftus Versfeld, home of the Blue Bulls rugby team.

Soweto (or to give it the full previous title South West Township) can apparently be visited on an independent basis. However, we opted for the safety in numbers tour option via a stop at the Apartheid Museum. The main focus of the tours is ino Orlando West, which is viewed as a fairly affluent suburb of the jumble of houses and shacks that stretch for miles into the distance. It was here on Vilakazi Street that Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu once lived and just a few hundred yards away from where the 1976 student uprisings started. The tour takes you to the Hector Piterson Memorial - named after the most prominent victim killed in 1976 - and on to the red brick bungalow Nelson shared with Winnie and to where he returned briefly after his release from Robben Island. The school where the uprising started and the Regina Mundi Catholic Church (the focus of many of the protests) were also on the agenda before a circumnavigation of the mean streets of downtown Joburg en route back to Ptretoria.

---

Photos

Pretoria
The Union Buildings

Pretoria
Downtown

Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Proof for Ross that there is at least one World Cup 2010 venue

Joburg
Downtown from afar

Vilikazi Street, Soweto
The street where Nelson lived

Nelson Mandela's House, Soweto
Inside the bungalow

Soweto
The local corner shops

Soweto
The local corner shops

Soweto
Minibus taxi rank

Soweto
Orlando Power Station - they could teach Wilton ICI a thing or two about decoration

Soweto
Regina Mundi Church - a focus for the 1976 uprisings

Pretoria
North South Backpackers