JOHANNESBURG (South Africa)
30 November - 02 December 2017
This was more of a required
destination than one made out of choice. Actually the genesis of the whole trip
was built around going on safari, or rather, assisting mum in having her
lifelong dream of going on safari come true. To be able do that, and in turn, the easiest way into South Africa
was with an arrival in Johannesburg, albeit via Dubai.
Inga and I
arrived in Jo’burg the day before my mum was set to arrive. Our lodging for
the few nights that we were going to stay was located close to the airport (Isando), but, a fair distance from the
CBD. Not that it really mattered to us, other than being desperately prohibitive for
a quick touristic mission to check out the sites, we had not counted on seeing a lot of the city on this occasion.
Our flight
from Durban to Johannesburg, whilst perfectly normal, caused mental torment for
me. For about 1hr prior to arrival I had witnessed heavy, heavy clouds building up in the
area, which of course then turned quickly translated into violent storms. I could also see that our plane was deliberately guiding its way around
the main mass of the storm but that to me, means that almost inevitably, you'll be hitting some part of it. Now, knowing
all too well that we would be making our approach into O.R Tambo International,
I knew that we were very likely to experience a more than hectic type of descent. I recall my palms sweating up furiously and me turning over all methods
of violent endings in my mind. Thankfully none of them eventuated and we arrived in Johannesburg safely
and without any incident or any encounter of moderate turbulence.
During the flight I did engage in conversation with a gentleman next to me who alerted me
to an unknown fact to me, and that was the proximity of Johannesburg to Pretoria.
From my understanding now, the outer suburbs are so close that there are
predictions that both will merge into a mega-city within the next 10 years,
with a population exceeding some 10 million. When you Google Map things you can see that the northern suburbs of
Johannesburg are only 50kms to the CBD in Pretoria, and it could be argued that
even now, the southern suburbs of Pretoria and the northern suburbs of
Johannesburg are already co-mingling. OK, so this might not be too exciting for most people but somehow geographical tidbits hold a high degree of interest in my mind.
Sandton City Mall - Sandton - Johannesburg - South Africa
Without really
having too many alternatives for our first night we took a ride into Sandton
where we found ourselves at the Johannesburg
Hard Rock Café, which is situated in the midst of some
mega-malls, boutique hotels and all things modern and prestigious. Recognising of
course that this was nothing like a true, or real
Johannesburg experience, I will use the caveat here that in this instance we
were not really out to discover Johannesburg this time around. Needless to
say, the Sandton City Mall and Nelson Mandela Square which resides within that mall was a nice
enough place for an evening out.
Sandton City Mall - Sandton - Johannesburg - South Africa
Sandton City Mall - Sandton - Johannesburg - South Africa
Sandton City Mall - Sandton - Johannesburg - South Africa
The next
morning we were at the airport once again, waiting the arrival of my mother from Belgrade.
Her time had finally come! This was going to be the start of an adventure that
she had been wanting to undertake for such a long time.
We returned to
Sandton later that afternoon for some lunch and a few more drinks, of course my
mum didn’t want to miss out on that…but the next day, well, we were going out into the
wild…for real.
Trumps Grillhouse & Butchery - Sandton City Mall - Sandton - Johannesburg - South Africa
Trumps Grillhouse & Butchery - Sandton City Mall - Sandton - Johannesburg - South Africa
This ferocious hail storm felt like it came out of nowhere!
Johannesburg - South Africa
On the way
back from Sandton however we were lashed with a ferocious storm that brought
down an inordinate amount of hail. It was quite will. It had been quite some
time that I’d witnessed a bombardment of hail that ferocious for some time. All
I was thinking whilst in the taxi was, damn,
thank God we’re not having to fly through this.
