Gauteng is the
Sotho word for ‘Place of Gold’. As this suggests, it harbours the gold fields of
South Africa, and Johannesburg is one of the wealthiest cities
in Africa. The gold mines have attracted millions of migrant
labourers from all over Africa since 1886 and gold built the
economy of Johannesburg and South Africa. Today the city has
progressed far beyond the status of a mere gold rush settlement. It is vibrant and cosmopolitan, full of freeways, skyscrapers,
enormous shopping malls, wealthy suburbs of huge houses and
sprawling townships that are home to a mass of humanity. Johannesburg
generates 16% of South Africa's GDP and employs 12% of the
national workforce. The financial, municipal, roads and telecommunications
infrastructure matches leading first world cities.
Johannesburg
hosts every form of commercial activity, from financial services
to heavy industries and mining. There's hardly a major
international company doing serious business in sub-Saharan
Africa that has not looked to Johannesburg as the gateway
to the continent. Despite being an industrial giant, visitors
are often surprised by how attractive parts of Johannesburg
can be. The older suburbs, for example, are situated in rolling
hills and have tree-lined streets, nature reserves, hiking
trails and parks. Johannesburg has an estimated six million
trees and in satellite pictures it resembles a forest.
Unfortunately, violent crime is a major problem in Johannesburg
and visitors should listen carefully to advice on where to
go. The green and yellow uniforms of the Central
Improvement District (CID) security guards are a new, comforting
feature on almost every street corner in targeted areas. But
downtown Jo’burg is still best visited on a city tour
and this is not a place you can casually wander around on
foot. There are some interesting museums worth visiting
to absorb something of the diverse cultural and historical
influences that have contributed to making Johannesburg what
it is today. No visitor should miss the excellent Apartheid
Museum next to the mine museum and the theme park at Gold Reef
City. It’s a fine testament to a regime that is well
and truly in the past.
Jo’burg’s twin city, populated
exclusively by black people, is Soweto (an acronym for South-Western
Townships). The type of housing ranges from shacks to large
mansions. In one street you can find the houses
of two Nobel Peace Prize winners: Nelson Mandela and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu. Also located in Soweto is the Baragwanath Hospital,
thought to be the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere.
It was in Soweto that much of the struggle against apartheid
was fought. It’s a good idea to go on a tour, which
often includes a visit to Nelson Mandela’s former home
(now a museum); the various monuments erected to commemorate
moments in the history of the struggle; and a shebeen, a traditional
township pub.
Most tourist accommodation, from five-star hotels to backpacker
hostels, is located in the affluent northern suburbs such as
Sandton, Rosebank and Hyde Park. Here you will also find
the large shopping malls that not only house shops but banks,
post offices, restaurants and cinemas. Whilst it may feel
odd to the first-time visitor to be whisked away to the suburbs
on arrival, there are no options to stay in the city centre
for the tourist. Jo’burgers like to eat out and there
are some fabulous restaurants. When it comes to nightlife,
Jo'burg rocks. South African jazz is particularly popular
and there are many sophisticated venues where you can get
down and experience the rhythm and soul of Africa. Jo’burg
warrants at least a couple of days to take in the sights,
eat well, shop and soak up the atmosphere. It's first world;
it's third world; it's happening - and its name is Johannesburg.
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Jo’burg has a delightfully
mild climate most of the year round and is never humid or
uncomfortably hot.
Only in the middle of the winter, July to August,
does it get really cold when there are often frosts during
the night. This usually takes Jo’burgers by surprise and they'll have forgotten where they put their heaters the previous
year. Although not warm, the winters are generally bone dry
with clear sunny days.
Summer, from October to March, sees moderate temperatures of
about 25°C during the day and balmy nights. It’s
also the rainy season over the highveld, so pack a raincoat
as well as your bikini. Rainstorms are often ferocious, accompanied
by much thunder and lightning and occasional hail, but they
are mercifully brief and followed by bouts of warm sunshine. |
After a few hours at the
Apartheid Museum you will feel that you have been in the townships
in the 70s and 80s, dodging police bullets or teargas canisters,
or marching and toyi-toying with thousands of school children.
This extraordinarily powerful museum has already become
the city's leading tourist attraction, an obligatory stop
for visitors and residents alike. The museum is a fascinating
and moving display of large blown-up photographs; metal
cages; nooses hanging from the ceilings representing all
those that died in the struggle; and numerous TVs playing
continuous apartheid scenes.
Gold Reef City is a re-creation of Johannesburg when prospectors
flooded the area in the
1890s, following the discovery of gold. With its Victorian houses and geological displays,
it offers a fascinating insight into a miner’s life
in turn-of-the-century Johannesburg. If you can stomach
it, you can go underground in shaft 14. Back on the surface, you can
catch a gold pouring demonstration. As well as the museum
there is a casino, and the theme park has South Africa’s
longest roller coaster.
Museum Africa focuses on the history of the area stretching
from the Zambezi River southwards to the Cape of Good Hope,
starting from the Stone Age and moving through to the present
day. There are exhibits on geology, anthropology, history
and archaeology. The more modern exhibits include a
mock-up shanty town and photographs from the apartheid era.
A visit to the museum is usually included in a half-day
city tour.
Tours of Soweto are hugely popular and more foreign visitors
go there each day than to the Kruger Park. Half day, full day and, increasingly,
overnight tours are on offer, with a knowledgeable guide
who is usually a Soweto resident. Surprisingly for most
visitors, Soweto has neat and tidy suburbs where people
have middle class aspirations. Soweto has the highest concentration
of millionaires in the country, and one of the most successful BMW dealerships. But there are large areas of shacks
and informal settlements where people’s aspirations
are less hopeful. Tours take in Nelson Mandela’s house
- on the same street as Desmond Tutu's. It is the only street in the
world that was home to two Nobel Peace prize winners. You
will also be taken to a traditional shebeen, an informal
settlement and to some of the monuments, parks and squares
erected in memory of the struggle against apartheid.
The World of Beer should be visited by anyone who enjoys
the golden nectar. South Africa Breweries beers can be
found all over the African continent from the Cape to Cairo.
The museum traces every aspect of the history of brewing,
and there is a mock up honky-tonk miners' pub and a shebeen.
The entrance fee includes a couple of free beers.
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The arrival or departure point
for most trips to South Africa is likely to be Johannesburg
International Airport. It's Africa’s busiest airport and
one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most important hubs
for air travel.
45 airlines serve the airport from all over the world
and 11 million people pass through each year. It’s
now busier than Cairo or Dubai airports. Some travellers only
change planes in Jo’burg en route to Cape Town or other
destinations in southern Africa. This is a pity, as the city
has some fun and interesting sights and warrants at least
a couple of days' stopover.
To get from the airport it’s best to pre-arrange a shuttle
through your backpackers' or hotel. Some offer this
service for free and it's much cheaper than catching a regular taxi.
The airport is about 25km from central Johannesburg and 35km from the northern suburbs, the location of most accommodation.
Arriving in Johannesburg by road is simple enough. There are good
road and rail connections with the rest of the country and
beyond. Mainline buses are excellent with regular services
to the main centres, and the Baz Bus provides a hop-on hop-off service from Johannesburg to Durban and then on to Cape
Town. |
Whilst there is public transport
in the form of mini-bus taxis, regular public buses and the
metro train, the taxis and buses concentrate on peak hours
and seats are often booked by regular commuters.
The trains are considered to be unsafe and tourists are strongly
advised not to use these. Most of the accommodation in the
northern suburbs is within walking distance to one of the major
shopping malls, which not only have shops, but restaurants,
cinemas, banks and post offices.
Unfortunately Johannesburg is a city where you’ll need
a car to get around. Alternatively, make use of the excellent
and affordable day tours that take in the city’s sights. |
Johannesburg has a bad
reputation for crime, and for years it’s been fighting
to shed its image as a dangerous or no-go destination. The
city has made determined efforts to crack down on crime, and
over the last two years the crime rate has dropped significantly.
The risk of being involved in a violent crime in Johannesburg
is now no higher than in the rest of the country. Thanks to
neighbouring countries blocking the traffic of stolen cars
to other African countries, car hijackings have been reduced
considerably. But you still need to be on your guard
in Jo’burg.
Whilst the northern suburbs, where most of the accommodation
and shopping malls are located, are quite safe to walk around,
it is advised that downtown Jo’burg is only visited
on a tour. The once-prosperous business district is today
an area of mostly grim and abandoned high-rise blocks. This is not a safe area to explore on foot.
Generally, visitors should take the precautions they would
in any major city. If you are driving, plan your travel route beforehand,
so that you don't get lost in a less-safe part of town; never
stop on a highway if you can help it; and don't leave anything
in your car - you'd be surprised what people will steal. |
Money can be exchanged into
Rands either at banks or foreign exchange bureaus. There are
several of these at the airport and around Johannesburg. They
are usually located in the shopping malls.
Bureaux de change generally stay open later than the banks.
You will notice that trying to get into a Johannesburg bank
is like trying to get into Fort Knox – security guards
have guard dogs, and the double and triple doors are time
locked.
Always use an ATM machine inside a bank or shopping mall and
never accept assistance from anyone. |
Like Cape Town, Jo’burg
has some amazing restaurants of an exceptionally high standard.
Food from all over the world features in a staggering range
of trendy eateries. Like people, restaurants and bars tend
to run in packs and huddle together on the same street in
several Johannesburg neighbourhoods.
Melville in the northern suburbs is the oldest restaurant
haven. It runs along several blocks on 7th Street. Here you'll
find all sorts of cafes, bars, and restaurants serving up
anything from Thai to Turkish, Mediterranean to Moroccan,
to African to à la carte fine dining. You won’t starve
in Melville.
Parkhurst is a little neighbourhood nestled to the east
of Rosebank and is probably the trendiest of restaurant
neighbourhoods. Walk along 4th Avenue, full of edge-to- edge
sidewalk cafes, with antique and flower shops adding to the
variety. The oddest collection of restaurants is the new
Chinatown in Cyrildene, a suburb on the east side of Jo'burg.
Derrick Avenue just off Observatory Avenue is carpeted with
tiny storefront Chinese restaurants with unbelievably kitsch
decorations on the walls, and sometimes dead ducklings hanging
in the window. Owners, chefs and even waiters don’t
speak English. Getting the bill involves the waiter
writing the amount down on the paper tablecloth. It’s
the best place on the continent to sample authentic Mandarin and Cantonese
cuisine.
Some shopping malls have fairly decent places to eat, particularly
Sandton Square, which has some of the best and most expensive
restaurants in Jo’burg. These include the superb Japanese
restaurant Daruma, and the Famous Butcher’s Shop and
Grill - South Africa’s leading melt-in-the-mouth
steak chain.
Many restaurants have bars that stay open late, or you can
head for the clubs in Melville. If you’re feeling
peckish in the wee hours of the morning, The Catz Pyjamas
is Jo’burg’s original 24 hour bistro and cocktail
bar.
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Johannesburg has a surprising
lack of public internet cafes, presumably because most people
have access at home. All the backpackers' and some lodges
and hotels have terminals.
In a city where much of the accommodation is geared towards the
business traveller, many hotels have internet connections
in rooms for use by people carrying laptops. Some have
innovative setups where you can access the internet through
the TV.
Phoning home is easy from the many coin and card phones scattered
around Johannesburg, especially in the shopping malls. You can phone internationally from most backpackers'
and hotels. |
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