arrival in South Africa
Technically May 16th was the longest day of my life so far. The flight from Sydney to Johannesburg is 14 hours and there’s an 8 hour time difference between them. That works out to mean that I spent 14 hours in flight and arrived 6 hours after I left.
Once I got to the airport in Sydney I stood in just about the longest checkin queue I have ever had to queue in for more than 30 minutes. When I finally got up to the counter everything got much better though, I had been randomly selected to be upgraded to business class since economy was overbooked! I’ve never been in business class before and it could not have come at a better time. The food is actually good, the seats recline almost horizontally and I had 40+ films and loads more tv shows to choose from on my personal tv. Managed a bit of sleep, and never really got bored, it didn’t seem like 14 hours that’s for sure.
Entry into South Africa was the easiest for any country so far, there was no entry card to fill out and the only question I was asked was where I had flown in from before my passport was stamped and I was waived through. From the airport I was met by a driver from my hostel in Pretoria, a 45 minute drive. That trip cost me less than the 10 minute shuttle to Sydney airport. You may be wondering why I’m in Pretoria if I flew into Joburg, but I got so many comments from people telling me to leave Joburg as soon as possible I just decided to bypass staying there at all, I may do a day tour there from Pretoria on the day after I return from my safari to see the sights there. Once I arrived at my hostel, which is in a quiet mostly residential area I went down the road to restaurant/pub on the corner for dinner. The place was packed full of white South Africans very passionately watching a local rugby game. The food there was centered around steaks, in many many shapes and sizes (they like their meat here). My very large grilled steak came with chips and a beer and cost me $7USD, hallelujah I can afford to eat out again! After that I went back to my hostel exhausted and went to bed.
Next day, after confirming my safari trip the following day to Kruger NP and being briefed on which areas around Pretoria were safe for me to walk in/go to and which weren’t, I went out and got some stuff I needed for the safari trip in a nearby suburb complete with a small shopping mall and a Sunday morning flea market. Pretoria is the administrative capital of the country so in the afternoon I checked out the Union buildings (headquarters of the South African govt) and their grounds.
One thing that features above most others when people talk of South Africa is crime and it is evident that people take lots of precautions against this. My hostel is walled in with an electric fence on top of the brick wall, only way to get in is with a code at the main gate.
There’s also a night security guard on duty. I’ve never stayed anywhere with such things before. What’s strange is, the whole street is lined with nice looking houses, walled in and with either razor wire or electric fences atop the walls. There’s loads of streets like this in the suburbs here.
People driving around in bmws, audis, mercedes etc and barbed wire surrounding their houses. Perhaps the weirdest thing about it is it doesn’t feel unsafe in this area during the day, a nice middleclass/upper middle class tree lined residential street with electric fences and razor wire. At night it’s a different place.
On a lighter note, I have elephant and rhino paper money now. That is just cool.
In the morning I’m off to the land of the elephants and rhinos for a 4 night guided driving/walking safari in Kruger national park. There will be no electricity for the duration of that time so I’ll blog next when I get back.
Tags: South Africa, Travel
Adam
So why weren’t you supposed to fly into Joberg? We will get there on June 2nd for a one day stay! I am loving the money! :)
Send me the elephant money! Thanks in advance.
I was supposed to fly to Joburg, I just decided not to stay there…
the elephant money is worth roughly $3. I’ll save you one.
So, did you bring catnip for the lions?
I hear they love to play with their food.
Hope you’re having an awesome time on the safari, however I’m fairly certain that short of being eaten by a lion (once in a lifetime experience though…) that awesome-ness is guaranteed.
On an unrelated note,
OOooOoooooo….
Can I have elephant money too?
I need to make a list, that’s 2 elephant notes so far…
I like Aslan, myself. But one of each would be good too.
I haven’t even seen a 200 note yet that I recall…