November 27, 2020 LX 288 touched down at Johannesburg International Airport (called Tambo), at 03:55 AM, after a 9:47 hours flight from Zurich. In it were two mighty excited passengers Nui & Nenad. Despite the Covid restrictions everywhere, we managed to squeeze out of Europe and into the summer of the southern hemisphere. As the SWISS Boeing ER taxied, we looked how darkness slowly gave way to dawn, and at each other, gave us a big kiss, and said YES !!! we are here. Nenad was previously in several other African countries, but never in Southern Africa, nor the country South Africa. A wish he held for years. And for Nui, this exotic, far away place held so many mysteries and excitements she was eager to discover.
Johannesburg the biggest city of the country with close to 6 million inhabitants was waking up, as we made our way to the hotel. South Africa is not a particularly safe place, we were told from all sides. So our adrenaline did keep us alert and awake. Security concerns occupied our planning all along, as we (just the two of us) are going to do a 4X4 self driving adventure, crossing the
country in a Nissan 4X4 from the tropical North East, through the Drakensberg mountain ranges surrounding Lesotho, to the wide beaches of the Southern Indian and Atlantic Ocean of the South West. Later that morning Nicole, our agent from SAMA Tours who helped us stitch the program together, met us for a detailed briefing. Unfortunately we had to skip Lesotho and Swaziland, as these two countries were still closed for tourism due to Covid. In South Africa we had to observe the same rules as we knew them from Asia and Europe; mask wearing, distance and hygiene. Not even Simba can beat Corona !!!
Johannesburg informally known as Joburg, or The City of Gold was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been just a farm. Due to the extremely large gold deposit of high purity and value it grew fast in a very anarchic, rough and chaotic way, within ten years to a population of 100,000 inhabitants. It is part of the Gauteng province, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. The city is the center of gold and diamond trade, with most of the head offices of and banks
also being situated there. history and ethnic mix makes greater Johannesburg a fascinating place. At the same time however harboring an explosive mixture as the races often have ideas and wishes. Former British and Afrikaans (Dutch, German and Huguenots immigrants, called the Boers) and other white immigrants, who jumped on the mining boom from Australia, the US and Europe, settled there. They make about 14% of the population. Colored people (no joke !!!) is the official term for the multiracial ethnic group native to Southern Africa, who have ancestry from more than one of the various populations, mostly mixes between Black, White and Asian people. They make up also 14%. The Asians, mainly migrants from India are 7%. Outnumbering by far all others is the with 64%. Although large by number they were never, not in history, and not today homogeneous in attempt. Zulu, Xhosa, Bapedi (North Sotho), Tswana, South Ndebele, Basotho (South Sotho), Venda, Tsonga, and Swazi, all cramped in townships and exploited fought each other as much as they fought the whites.
We settled in the suburb of Sandton, the area to stay in Joburg. Urban decay in downtown Johannesburg
caused by migrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and other folks from the black continent, made many corporate offices move from Johannesburg down town to Sandton in the 1990s. It has the new financial district of South Africa and Johannesburgs premier business center. The rest of our day was filled with sightseeing. Joburg does not have too many attractions so we concentrated our time visiting the infamous townships Soweto and Crafton, where so much recent South African history was written. And where the enormous social and economic problems this country still has are best visible.
