Johannesburg - aka Joburg, Jozi, or Egoli (literally meaning "the place of gold")
is situated about 600kms north of Durban in the Gauteng province.
is situated about 600kms north of Durban in the Gauteng province.
One of the city's characteristics is the mine dumps - above -
the result of digging out all that precious metal...
the result of digging out all that precious metal...
To be honest though, on arriving, the last thing on my mind was the history of Jozi ;)
Instead, my attention was on seeing my best (guy) friend, Warren after a 3 year absence... And eventually meeting his lovely wife, Gen, and my godchild, Teagan, in person :-)
Instead, my attention was on seeing my best (guy) friend, Warren after a 3 year absence... And eventually meeting his lovely wife, Gen, and my godchild, Teagan, in person :-)
Yup, it's me: holding the baby and grinning :D
My godchild: the angel :-)
On the way home, I got a surprise: we were going to a game park the next day! It's a private game farm called Zebula, located 50kms outside of Warmbad in the northern Transvaal - somewhere I had never been before!
Now, I took so many pics at Zebula that it gets it's own page... But suffice to say that it was awesome :-)
You can take a peek and then come back, or keep reading for the rest of Joburg and check it out later...
Zebula
When we got back from our trip, suntanned and smiling, I still had a last day with Warren and Gen, so they took me to see Warren's toys: the massive trucks they use on the mines... Caterpillars and Dozers, dumptrucks and water-trucks - and they are so big, they don't even start to fit into a photo! (A grown man stands about half the height of a single tyre on these beasts - and I only saw the small ones!)
But by then, our time was up, so Warren and Gen then took me to Monte Casino to meet my beloved sister, gave me a teddy-bear and we said: graag tot siens...
Fourways...
My last few days in SA were spent with PJ and AJ at their home in Fourways.
You can take a peek and then come back, or keep reading for the rest of Joburg and check it out later...
Zebula
When we got back from our trip, suntanned and smiling, I still had a last day with Warren and Gen, so they took me to see Warren's toys: the massive trucks they use on the mines... Caterpillars and Dozers, dumptrucks and water-trucks - and they are so big, they don't even start to fit into a photo! (A grown man stands about half the height of a single tyre on these beasts - and I only saw the small ones!)
But by then, our time was up, so Warren and Gen then took me to Monte Casino to meet my beloved sister, gave me a teddy-bear and we said: graag tot siens...
Fourways...
My last few days in SA were spent with PJ and AJ at their home in Fourways.
Upon arrival, they provided me with samoosa's, Windhoek Lager, a lekker lapha by the pool and puppy-cats to snuggle, and once I was all settled in, we got down to the exciting business of opening pressies! Pressies from NL, pressies from UK, and seri-aas pressies from Durbs...
PJ & AJ - first night
Next day, PJ and I went to the Bryanston market, which has some beautiful things: hand-made art, incredible wood-work, leather, glass and a whole lot more - and it was where I found myself some sheepskin slippers to keep my toes warm in the cold Dutch winters :-)
A World of Beer...
A World of Beer...
After that, we headed off to the South African Breweries World of Beer - where before we did anything else, we watched the rugby (SA vs. Oz)... and consoled ourselves with another drink after losing ;)
Rugby - a quintessential part of the SA experience
We then did a tour of beer through the ages... From Somalia and Mesopotamia to Holland (no surprise), England, and back to SA; tasting (fake) Zulu beer and seeing how the SAB alchemists turn a few simple ingedients into SA's finest...
Barley and hops
From history to science, if you like beer, this is a must-stop destination...
A bottle-store unlike any I've seen... Look at the prices!
The World of Beer even has an old style saloon: The African Lion...
...Which AJ later got thrown out of...
(Just kidding - he decided to leave when he heard the beer was finished ;)
And before we left, I even got to visit an old friend...
Madiba - aka Nelson Mandela, ex-President of SA and the man
with whom I'd most like to have a cup of tea and a chat
with whom I'd most like to have a cup of tea and a chat
After all that beer, we took a drive through Joburg and visited the new JHB stadium - which is really cleverly deisigned the catch the colours of the city's sunset...
The Calabash - Joburg's FIFA stadium
CocaColab tower by the Calabash
...And then it was time to leave... :(
As much as I'm no city girl, Joburg certainly showed me it's prettiest face as a city, and the space and trees even in the city centre are certainly a contrast to Europe.
Apart from anything else, just being here, smelling the earth and the air, and seeing the mynahs and loeries again made for a wonderful trip...
But of course, there's so much more than that: there are my friends, my family, and a way of life which does not seem to exist outside of Africa... It's the everything that I miss, the everything that I crave - and the reason that one day, hopefully, I'll come home for good :-)
For now, though, I've got my photo's, a LOT of curio's and a suntan - so I'm not complaining... And I've brought home all the mental pictures to remind me of why South Africa is Ayoba! :-)
Thank you everyone for giving me such a perfect holiday back home...
...If you haven't already done so, be sure to check out Zebula for some Highveld beauty...
And if you're wondering how this can possibly be a blog by Gill with so few animals in the photo's, have no fear - they're all here: Animals ;)