African Safari/ Johannesburg Arrival

Johannesburg, South Africa

We were traveling well south of the equator where winter is the reverse of ours. I planned this trip so we would arrive when there was less heat and fewer bugs. Malaria is something I can do with out. May/ June is also the dry season which reduces the underbrush in the jungle and makes animal viewing better. So we were expecting cool weather but when I and my two son-in-laws departed the plane, I though we had missed the mark and ended up in Antarctica. A very cold front had moved in from the south. There was a strong southerly wind licking at our faces. We were ill prepared for this frigid air. I hoped as we traveled north into Botswana things would warm. Little did I know what we would encounter.
I had been warned Johannesburg could be a rather dangerous place, as many big cities can be.
"Don't venture too far of the main paths" I was told. But I have to say my experience in Johannesburg was very positive. Our hotel, the Southern Sun, was just a short walk from the airport and we were all happy to get inside to warm up. It was an inviting space with a very friendly staff. I tried out the Swana language I had been practicing months in advance but my bellman looked at me in a blank stair as he placed my bag on the bed. " Tutsi", he said. " I am Tutsi", he repeated. "I don't speak Swana". South Africa is a mix of many ethnic tribes (www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes). Each have their own language and there are many dialects. I did finally find one worker at the hotel that spoke Swana. She was very eager to help me practice and she also got a big laugh at an American attempting to speak her language.
The first night in Africa and where do we end up? The Mall! My son-in-law's luggage was lost. After searching for an hour at the airport he resigned himself to the fact that he had no cloths. We were all traveling with minimal baggage, only 25 pounds each due to the small planes we would be flying into and around Botswana. We did not have enough cloths to share, so like it or not it was necessary to go shopping. Oh boy what fun! The first problem. We had not exchanged any money for South African Krugerrands at the airport. No banks were open. The bellman suggested taking a taxi to the shopping mall and maybe they would take American dollars. I explained the situation to the taxi driver. He told me dollars would not be taken at the mall. He would take us somewhere to get money exchanged and then take us to one of the better malls . The drive to the money exchange gave us a chance to see downtown Johannesburg. It is truly a metropolitan city. One of the largest industrial regions in the Southern Hemisphere. As we pulled into the mud parking lot I was skeptical of the place this taxi driver had taken us. It was an open bazaar that offered most anything you would want. Sort of like Sam's or Wall Mart but with out a roof. There was a fee at the front entrance so the taxi driver took me to a side gate. He talked to a Stoic thin man. The gate opened . "Go see Sotho", said the taxi driver. I have, in years past, exchanged money on the black market. I could never figure out how the exchange rate could actually be better than a bank. After walking around for a few minutes I found the money exchanger , made my way back to the taxi and we were off to Johannesburg's East Rand Mall. I had received only large bills so as I tried to pay the taxi driver he lamented he had no change. He said he would be back in two hours to take us back to the hotel. We could pay him then. What a trusting individual. Needless to say, he got a big tip when we were back at the hotel.
If you blind folded me. Stuck me in the middle of the mall and told me I was in Pittsburgh, but for the accents and South African beer I would have believed it. Every major store that is in most U.S. malls was in this mall. Plus many European designers. The staff at the clothing store was very helpful and they were quite amused by our American accents.
Though the first day in Africa was not what I had planned it turned out to be a very interesting day. The next ten days on Safari got even more interesting. See the post African Safari/ Botswana
( you can see more photos by clicking on the photo at the bottom of this page , then on Rick's public albums)