I took a once in a lifetime trip to South Africa with my Mother pre-pandemic. It was on her bucket list to visit Africa and go on a safari. We went for 10 days and visited two cities so I decided to break this post up into four parts. We flew into Senegal and had a 2-hour layover but couldn’t leave the plane. Bummer. Then we flew to Johannesburg which is the first part of this series.

JOHANNESBURG

As we drove into the city it reminded me of any Northeastern city in America with buses, congestion, big buildings and even graffiti.

We checked into a beautiful hotel with an Atrium that was absolutely breathtaking. 

As soon as we got some rest, we headed out to sightsee in our tour bus. We drove around and our driver pointed out interesting sights including the house where Nelson Mandela lived. Of course it was behind walls for security. We couldn’t get out of the bus, so we had to take pictures through the glass of our windows.

Next we went to the Apartheid Museum where we participated in an experiment where some of us picked cards that had “White” on them and some of us had “Black” on them. Then we were separated and had to go in separate entrances which was how it was during Apartheid. There were tributes to Nelson Mandela everywhere.

After that inspiring trip, we walked through a neighborhood and ate a real African dinner at a resident’s house. It was so wonderful and gave us a taste of how real people lived. We walked past some children playing and I snapped some pictures of them. They were so cheerful and happy.

On this first part of our journey the takeaway was that this was a vibrant city and that we were much more alike than different. 

So often, we get these images of just jungle, desert and open meadows and don’t really get to see the residential and city areas. Like I said before, the city didn’t look too much different from any Northeastern city in America. 

Let me know if you’ve ever been to South Africa or anywhere in Africa and what your thoughts were. 

Stay tuned to Part 2, where we go on Safari!!!