Toby's journal

Here's a few photos from around Johannesburg; I'll add to that collection as I go along.

However I'm particularly happy with my wildlife photos from the Krugersdorp wildlife park. Took me a while to find the time to edit them. I'll put a few behind the cut:

( Large animals )

So, today I think I almost bit off more than I could chew.

It started off well...
Today I decided to try and use the pseudo-public-transport to get into town. This seemed quite easy at first - I asked someone else waiting for it about what to catch, and this got me into town quickly and easily.
I spent a few hours wandering around Braamfontein and Newtown, where I can honestly say I didn't see a single other white guy. Checked out quite a few streets of random shops, and cafes where the till and serving area was seperated from the tables by a cage, and chaotic markets, and people who looked like they were living out of broken-down cars.

I stopped to have coffee and some food in Newtown, which is the relatively-upmarket end, and the guy at the cafe even asked me what I was doing there.

Then I tried to get home, and it all went a bit pear-shaped.
I stood at what I thought was the right place for ages without managing to get a ride. And the only other guy at the stop eventually walked off, saying he'd been waiting for over an hour unsuccessfully.
Half an hour later one of the dodgy minibuses stopped and answered YES to my question of whether they were going to Linden, and I hopped in...

He initially only half-jokingly tried to charge me 10x the normal going rate, but I called him on it, and he charged the right amount.
The ride was a bit uncomfortable - not only was I jammed into a minibus in such disrepair that the door didn't even close, but also it was full of africans jabbering in a language I couldn't understand, laughing at times. I'm sure at times it was laughing at my expense, but I figured it was an "interesting experience" at least.

I changed my mind when the minibus dropped me off in Randburg, and said they'd be back to pick me up again in an hour.. if I was still around. Randburg is a suburb I've been warned about and told it is distinctly NOT COOL AT ALL to be stranded in the middle of it on a friday night.
Strike a blow for inter-racial relations there, then.
I received more strange looks from people, just being there, and again when I was asking around if there was anything headed to Linden from there. (Linden is, apparently, one of the safest suburbs in all Joburg. Randburg is one of the least safe. I'm guessing they don't get much call for the dodgy minibuses to go between the two.)

So, I walked home. I may have mentioned that Johannesburg is a quite anti-pedestrian city.. well, that goes doubly so when it's night-time and you're walking down streets with no pavement and no working street-lights and in the one area you've been explicitly told not to walk around in.
I'd pretty much given up all hope of arriving home with any of my possessions and/or life, but the 4km walk was uneventful, apart from a couple of times when emergency vehicles went screaming past.

Journey in the morning: 30 mins.
Journey home: 3 hours, and numerous fingernails.

So, Johannesburg..
My first impressions were mainly that the place was big, and had a huge sky hanging over it. When the smog levels are good, you can see for miles from this hilly neighbourhood. It's autumn, and the weather is still quite warm and sunny, although leaves are beginning to turn from green to yellows and oranges.

A later impression is that, wow, the houses are really built like fortresses. The majority of them are surrounded by six-to-ten foot walls, often topped with razor wire, and always finished with electrified wire.
Everyone drives here but no-one parks on the street. People have remote controls or security keypads on poles, so their motorised gates open without them needing to leave their cars.
I'm told that all this is a remnant of an earlier, insecure time. I hope so! :)

Another manifestation of this is the way that, every time you park a car somewhere, there will be an unofficial car guard, who will keep an eye on your car in return for a tip. The abundance of cheap (entirely black) labour here means that many basic tasks seem to be outsourced to them - For instance, you can hire someone to stand in queues for you. (Apparently queues for council/govt services like car rego are several hours long.. I'm not sure if that makes them longer than the mammoth queues for the Home Office in Croydon though)

Another impression of Joburg is the complete and utter lack of public transport. The city's own website for tourists has a list of all the ways you *can't* get around, explaining why there are next to no buses, no useful or safe trains, how there are no real taxis, why it's dangerous to drive new rentals if you don't know your way around, and ends up recommending people just get a friend to drive them around.
Everyone here drives. The lack of pedestrians goes so far as to the extinction of a sidewalk on many streets. It's just the road, and a verge on either side, inbetween the impressively solid walls.

Again, however, people have filled the gap privately, as there are loads of beaten-up minibuses being driven around in a careless manner, filled to dangerous levels, which follow regular, albeit unpublished, routes. The bus-stops are unmarked, and the vans are hailed by specific hand gestures, which are also unpublished. So, not particularly safe either. (I haven't tried catching any yet)

However, aside from these elements, the places I've been in the city seem relatively normal - cafes, pubs, pool halls, shopping malls. I'm going to try out the clubbing soon, both the goth/industrial/alternative scene and the rave scene. I'll report back!

Outside of Johannesburg, Liz and I visited the north-eastern area of SA, near the Kruger national park. Up there, I was strongly reminded of parts of South Australia - the climate and plants appeared very similar, and there were lots of impressive rock formations and some awesome waterfalls.
(I'll be posting photos of those as soon as I get off my arse and finish processing them..)

I'd better go now - it rained a while ago, and now the lights keep flickering on and off.