Johannesburg, South Africa
eGoli is Bantu for City of Gold, another name for Johannesburg – the richest city in Africa founded on gold deposits. We spent our last day in the city learning this and other facts while taking a bus tour.
Normally, we are opposed to the city bus style touring, as we prefer to get out and walk around. But, given our limited time, limited safe public transportation options and the gigantic size of Joburg, it just made sense to do the tour bus. We were actually very pleased with the experience and will probably do one in Cape Town, as well, for the same reasons.
The bus was practically empty with just a few British tourists here and there and we got to see way more of the city than we would have ever gone into on our own – including the downtown area, several of the court buildings, Gandhi Square (which is a popular place for political protests), the gold mining district that the city was founded around and some of the housing sections on the outskirts of the city.
In the afternoon we visited the Apartheid Museum. Apartheid is Afrikaans for “Apartness” or separation of the races and it was the cultural and (more importantly) legal policy of South Africa from 1948 to 1994 (when South Africa held their first free elections).
This was a great museum and I probably learned more there than any other museum I’ve visited. It was huge and it really got into the historical details of the Apartheid era. We both knew a little about Apartheid, but were too young to have any personal memories of it’s fall or the rise of democracy within the country.
The museum started with giving everyone a card that listed them as European or Non-European (the racial designations used for discrimination during Apartheid). I got Non-European and Josh got European/white.
We had to enter through separate doors and viewed the first part of the museum completely independent of each other. It was a little uncomfortable to be separated without realizing what we were getting into or really consenting to it. The point was most certainly made when the exhibit featured stories of families who were split apart by arbitrary racial classification boards and forced to live, work and exists apart.
Once we found each other again, the museum led us through the history of the native tribes and the Dutch colonists then went on to the British conquest, the wars that ensued (which created the political climate for Apartheid) the politicians that took advantage, the people that tried to fight Apartheid like the African National Congress (ANC) and the countries’ slow but arguably successful growth toward democracy via many leaders, including national hero Nelson Mandela.
Now, I feel like I have way more than a basic understanding of South Africa’s history. Josh and I were both quick to notice many similarities in the economic and cultural climate of South Africa that led to the Apartheid system taking root and expanding and the current economic and cultural climate of own beloved United States. From listening to the conversations around us, many other visitors from other countries noticed as much, too.
There was so much to see in this museum including the temporary exhibit on Nelson Mandela, which we spent over and hour exploring. The museum even had a replica of his cell on Robben Island, which we hope to see in person while in Cape Town. We ended up having to rush through the final sections of the museum just to make our bus on time.
Our next visit of the day was Constitution Hill, which featured several historic buildings and the current Constitutional Court of South Africa. The Court is built, in part, with bricks from the Number Four Prison, which was also on site and had historical significance for housing political prisoners like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi for a short period of time.
The area also featured the Old Fort – originally built by the Boers (formerly Dutch colonists who settled in the area) to protect the city from the British in the late 1890s and a women’s prison. To be honest, the layout was very confusing (after all, this was a prison complex turned museum – so not exactly built to be user friendly), so we missed a lot. But we at least explored the number four prison in detail. We saw the cell blocks which housed up to 60 men, the solitary confinement cells, the bathrooms and a flogging frame used to punish prisoners. While no one’s life at Number Four was pleasant, there was serious discrimination between white prisoners and black/brown prisoners from the bedding and food they received to their living conditions and punishments.
On our way to the Old Fort the bottom fell out of a storm that had been slowly creeping in all afternoon. These late afternoon thunderstorms are common in the area and often include lightening, thunder and even hail. It was short lived but it did send us running for shelter and eventually back to our hotel without getting to fully explore the rest of Constitution Hill.
Even though we were only outside for a few hours, it should be no surprise that Josh is already severely sun-burned. Every exposed part of his body including his eyes and lips are super red – every part except for the top of his head which I snuck sun screen on before he sent me away and refused to wear anymore. I wore sunscreen. I am not burned. This has been a source of contention all evening :-p
The only good thing is that this was a minor burn compared to what could happen on our Safari when we’ll be outside all day – and I think Josh is more than ready slather on the sun screen next time.
And, next time will be tomorrow. Our long awaited safari will start tomorrow with a 6:00 a.m. hotel pick up followed by a 5-hour ride to Kruger National Park. We’re staying in tents, we’re going to see lions and elephants and there could be black mambas and Mozambique spitting cobras (AHHH)! Not sure what the internet situation will be when we arrive at our rest camp, but we’ll post again once we have access.
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