A Full-Day Tour of Johannesburg (and Soweto)

It almost felt like it would never happen, but I finally left Zambia and made my way to South Africa for the first time. It's a little bittersweet to leave a place I considered like a home for three months (even if it was a hotel), but I'm happy to move on to South Africa. Strangely, prior to this trip, I had only transited through South Africa but never found my way past the airport. Happily, that has finally changed. While here, I'm staying in Pretoria, one of three of South Africa's capital, but the city itself is 40 minutes north of the main international airport (O.R. Tambo International Airport), and about 45 minutes from northwestern South Africa's most famous city, Johannesburg.

Johannesburg Morning

Thankfully, coming from Zambia, I was not jetlagged when I arrived in South Africa. So after settling into Pretoria yesterday, I decided that today I needed to get out and explore a bit. However, Pretoria is a small city, relatively speaking, so I figured I'd make my way to Johannesburg instead. Happily for me, there's a really nice train--the Gautrain--that runs between the two cities, somewhere between a commuter train and a metro. There are only a handful of stops between Pretoria and Johannesburg, and for just about $5.50, I had a lovely trip seeing the suburbs of Gauteng Province. And, to top it all off, it let me off right in the middle of Johannesburg.



Street in Johannesburg

So I always see the double-decker red buses in DC, the "Hop-On-Hop-Off" and wondered who took them to see a city. Well, now I know. I figured it was not only the easiest way to get a highlights tour of Johannesburg, but also probably the safest way to make sure I stayed out of any really bad neighborhoods. It was such a great tour, that now I'm thinking I might need to try the DC one some time just to see what I don't know about my own near-ish city. Plus, most of the people that were on the bus with me throughout the day are actually South Africans--mostly from Johannesburg, in fact--but thought it would be a great way to see their own city as well and show it to their friends who had come into town. Anyway, long story short, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who visits Johannesburg. Of the 11 stops the bus made, I only got off and did activities at three.



View of Sandton from Carlton Centre

View from Carlton Centre

The first was Carlton Centre, a 50-story skyscraper in the center of the city. Not only has it been South Africa's tallest building for decades, but for a long time it was also the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. As expected, the views from the top were spectacular. To the west was a great view of Soccer City, to the north it was possible to see the outline of the buildings in the suburb of Sandton, to the east Ellis Park and some of the gold mines, and to the south even more mines. Again, the best word to describe it all was spectacular. However, it did prove something the guides mentioned: Johannesburg is one of the worst locations to put a city, and even worse to put a massive metropolis. The world's largest city not on a river, lake, or coastline, there's no natural freshwater anywhere near Johannesburg (they ship it in from hundreds of kilometers away in Lesotho) and the high altitude makes it even more difficult. All of that was on perfect display.

Soweto

Soccer City

My second stop on the tour was Soweto, although that was really a side tour. Soweto (formerly known as the SOuth WEst TOwnship) is sort of a massive multi-million person suburb of Johannesburg (although technically it has been absorbed by the City of Johannesburg Municipality...blame South Africa's crazy local government laws for this one) and it has a bad reputation. Although there are now rich and middle class folks living in Soweto, there are still many very poor people and slums in the area, which gives it the bad reputation. It was fascinating driving around Soweto and seeing the highlights in a quick 2.5 hours, including Nelson Mandela's house, Desmond Tutu's house, and the world's third-largest hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. Oh, and Soccer City up-close, and the home of the Orlando Pirates soccer team.



Couple Reunited at Apartheid Museum

My final stop on the tour was the Apartheid Museum, the one thing everyone told me was a must. It was on OK museum, I suppose, but it was a heavy reading sort of museum. I've now been to a few museums with heavy subject matter (Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the Genocide Museum in Kigali come to my mind), and the parts that had the most impact were the ones that were symbolic in nature. The Apartheid Museum started off strong--people randomly separated into "White" and "Non-White" entrances who then meet up after the first exhibit. It was interesting to watch a few couples who were split up reunite after the first part. To me, that was one of the most powerful parts of the museum.



Street Corner in Braamfontein

Street Dancing in Braamfontein

And then after that I returned to central Johannesburg on the bus, just seeing some of the other cool neighborhoods. For example, Braamfontein, the area near the University of Witwatersrand, was as hippie and artsy as the areas around other cities' universities. I suppose some things are universal. I took the Gautrain back to Pretoria (well, Hatfield, really, because it's closer to my hotel) and decided to call it a night and stay in. It was a great day seeing Johannesburg and Soweto, and even though I've only been in South Africa for just over 24 hours and people tell me that at times the "development" and "Westerness" of South Africa are just veneers, I can totally see how people can get into this. It's just enough Africa and just enough Europe to keep you entertained. Maybe not for long-term, but for a week, I think I'll like it.

I know I've already posted a Trevor Noah video before, but this one is also amazing and unfortunately way too true: