A Day In Johannesburg

I arrived in Johannesburg around dinner time yesterday and I am leaving for my safari at 5am tomorrow so it was important that I make the most out of today and I think my lovely friends Monique and Mark did a wonderful job of making that happen. I met Monique in Paris a little over four years ago and was very excited to meet up with her today and have her show me around her city. She invited her partner Mark to join us which was fantastic because I was now getting to see things that two different people love about their city and I also made a new friend.

We started off the day by heading to an amusement park but not for the reasons a person would typically go to an amusement park. We went to explore an old mine site that was within the park. Johannesburg is the largest city in the world without a natural body of water and it was founded simply because of the gold in the area. The mine we visited had 47 levels and reached a depth of 3293 metres but we only visited the second level at 75 metres below ground, as the lower levels had been flooded. We had a brief tour and learned a little about how the mine operated when it was still in use. It was a pretty unique and enjoyable experience.

From there we drove through CBD and ventured through some of the rougher areas so I could see the contrast between different areas in the city, then made our way to the hipster neighbourhood. At first I was skeptical about this being a hipster area as it looked more like a ghetto but then a guy wearing skinny jeans, thick rimmed glasses and sporting an ironic moustache walked out of a coffee shop and I was sure I hadn’t been mislead. We visited a market with a small art gallery and several food stalls. Monique and Mark insisted I try a milk tart, a Johannesburg favourite, (I ended up forgetting about it and didn’t eat it until I got home. I enjoyed the taste of it but the texture was a bit strange for my liking.). We also wandered around the area for a while taking in all of the amazing graffiti and took a few minutes to read a large chalkboard where people had written down things from their bucket-lists, some were funny, some sweet, and others a little disturbing.

Our next stop was probably my favourite part of the day; we went to Lion Park to hang out with lion cubs. In my head I had imagines having a Lion King moment with one of the cubs and lifting it over my head presenting it to the rest of animal kingdom. This idea was silly for a few reasons. First I’m scared of normal cats so the thought of me picking up a lion is absurd, and secondly the lion would probably try to either bite or scratch me if I attempted to pull off such a stupid stunt. So while I didn’t get my Lion King moment I did get to pet three different lion cubs and I didn’t even scream. I was pretty proud of myself. I also saw meerkats, cheetahs, hyenas, and I even fed a baby giraffe!

After interacting with the animals we were able to drive through a larger section of the park where the older lions has room to roam around freely. This was pretty cool because while the animals were still technically being held in captivity it’s not like they were locked in a small cage and didn’t seem depressed like animals in a zoo. They were walking around and even play fighting with each other.  I have driven through African Lion Safari in Ontario when I was a kid but I don’t remember actually seeing lions while we were there, (I do however remember seeing a monkey masturbating on the roof of the car next to us even though I had no idea what it was actually doing at the time.) so this experience was epic. I hope to get as close to animals on my safari as we did today but even if we don’t I will still be happy because today’s experience was absolutely fantastic.

Our next stop was at a cableway station where we were able to take in some stunning views of a dam and the surrounding areas. On a clear day we would have been able to see a good chunk of Johannesburg, and could have even seen all the way to Botswana on the other side of the mountain but unfortunately the weather was not on our side. The views were still incredibly picturesque despite the clouds but I was happy to get out of the wind when we made our way back to the base of the mountain.

From here we slowly started to make our way home but made a few stops along the way. We stopped at a market full of handmade crafts and jewelry. I found a lovely soapstone jewelry box shaped like Africa with a beautiful picture painted on it but I thought it would break in my bag before I managed to get it home plus I don’t actually have any jewelry so I decided to give it a miss. We also stopped at a grocery store so I don’t run the risk of starving on my Safari is we don’t take enough rest stops or I don’t like the meal options I’m presented with, and then grabbed a bite to eat before finally heading back to the hostel.

It was an action packed day and I loved every minute of it. I am very thankful that Monique and Mark took time out of their busy schedules to spend a day showing me around. I’m also happy that I had an experience that is completely different from any of the packaged tours available in the city and I didn’t just get the same cookie cutter experience that every other tourist in Johannesburg does because they don’t feel safe exploring alone. All of the excitement from today’s activities has left me exhausted though and I have to up at ridiculous o’clock tomorrow so I should get to bed. I will be sure to update as often as possible during my safari although I’m not sure how often I will have internet access so it might be a while before my next post.