We opted to stay our last night in Johannesburg at the Palazzo Hotel which is part of the Montecasino precinct in Fourways. The hotel and the casino/restaurant mall attempted to trick you into thinking you were in Italy – but we weren’t fooled. We even went to a Greek restaurant for dinner so as not to buy into the illusion…
Having most of the day to explore before heading to the airport we booked a half day Johannesburg tour that took us to Soweto and Nelson Mandela’s House, as well as to the Constitution Hill area that used to be a prison. The Apartheid Museum is closed on Tuesdays so we were unable to see that, but always good to save something for our next visit!
The symbol of Soweto is the Vuvuzela – that annoying plastic horn that plays a loud monotone note and makes going to football matches in South Africa a painful and traumatic experience. Soweto stands for South Western Township and is home to over 1.2 million folk. The township was formed in the 1930s when the white Government started separating Blacks from Whites and became internationally known in the 1970s when, in 1976, a series of riots against the ruling that Afrikaans would be used in all schools resulted in police opening fire on striking students killing 176 students and injuring more than 1000.
We stopped at the Hector Pietersen Memorial which was truly moving. Hector was a 12 year old student who was shot by police during the Soweto uprising and massacre. The anniversary of his death is now Youth Day in South Africa. The shoes that are shown in the photos above represent the fact that when families came to find their children they had all been removed and only their shoes were left behind.
We also visited Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s house in Soweto where they lived before he was arrested and sent to Robbin Island in CapeTown. It’s now a massive tourist attraction in a street full of souvenir shops and even a Hard Rock Cafe shop opposite. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also lived in the same street and his house has a plaque but is not open to the public given people still live there.
We visited Constitution Hill which is the legal district of J’burg or ‘Jozi’ as it is often referred to. The court was in session so we couldn’t enter the main court building but toured the old prison that at various times housed both Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi (although they never met). There is a fairly extensive museum display of both men’s lives in the prison.
We were also ‘treated’ to a traditional African dance troupe while in Soweto which cost a small ‘donation’.
With Johannesburg in the rear mirror we made the trek to the airport and started the journey back to Melbourne (via Sydney). An amazing trip in an incredible and unique part of the world – we have had an absolutely fantastic trip that combined deserts and coastlines, mountains and wildlife, waterfalls and canyons and some of the nicest people you could meet in the world. Africa – we shall return!
Postscript: It’s taken a month since we got back from Africa for me to finish this blog. Reflecting on the trip and in response to people’s questions on what was the main highlight of our six weeks away, here are the key takeouts:
😀 Wildlife – I haven’t counted the number of national parks we visited across five countries, but we were so fortunate to see the Big Five, and so many amazing animals and birds – at times it felt like it was all animatronics and they weren’t really wild!
😀Victoria Falls – incredible sight and sound – viewing it from a helicopter was very special!
😀Mokoro ride in the Okavango Delta – so peaceful and so close to nature but with that element of danger!
😀The people we met – on our Nomad tour, at Nottens Bush Camp, on the Blue Train, our guides and the amazing people working in the tourism and hospitality industry in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
😀Being able to just be in the moment, without thinking about what’s for dinner, work, or anything except wow that’s a pride of lions right there….