Winter 2018 – Johannesburg (Monday)

We had decided that we have a guided tour of Johannesburg and, if it were possible, we would like to visit Soweto (SOuth WEst TOwnship).

We were picked up this morning by a very nice young man (Adolf) who explained to us that his home was in the Kruger and that he had trained as a tour guide there but that his uncle was ill and he was tour guiding in Johannesburg until his uncle recovered. Yes he could take us to Soweto but we would have a look at Johannesburg first. Johannesburg’s history really begins in the last quarter of the 19th c when gold was discovered in the area and it seems that wherever you look there are tailings heaps and since the ground rock is lightish in colour these are white and stand out. Little or no remediation seems to have been carried out. The city is disappointing, there are no really interesting buildings and the place is very dirty, even downtown, where all the banks and offices are there is rubbish everywhere. Adolf, drove us round the main points of interest, one of which was the ‘tallest office building in Africa’. The views of the city from the top (50th floor) and called ‘the top of Africa’ were pretty impressive but the atmosphere is very hazy and so photography was not good.

The first is Nelson Mandela bridge. The rest are street scenes in the CBD