Joburg-SA
It has been a few weeks since I returned from South Africa and I gotta tell you, I am still on that high. You should see how my face lights up whenever someone asks me “How was South Africa?”. LOL It also reminded me that I need to get to blogging. Honestly, it was such an amazing trip. As an African, I feel a little bit of embarrassment that it took 29 years for me to visit. I have been to several countries in Europe and Asia but when it comes to Africa, only Morocco and South Africa? HOW!! Anyway, it was such an eye-opener to see how the other part of my continent lives and boy does it look nothing like the Africa that I grew up in (Well actually certain parts did). Lol
South African Airways was our way to SA. We took advantage of that glitch fare several months ago. Our ticket was less than $400, what a steal! So of course my girls, Chloe and Jackson had to join in. I had heard great things about SAA but I was a bit disappointed in their service. Some of the stewardess weren’t pleasant which kind of ruined it all for me but how can I complain when my ticket was that cheap. We arrived in Johannesburg in the evening around 5pm, immigration was a breeze…STAMP STAMP and we were on our way. We met some people from our flight who also took advantage of the glitch fare too. I was just hoping that it wasn’t going to be a repeat of Dubai last year when it seemed like half of America was there when we went. Our way of transport to our Airbnb was Uber or so we thought? wifi and our international data wouldn’t let us be great so we hitched a ride with a private car which ended up taking a huge portion of our money that was intended for food and booze lol. For some strange reason, we booked an airbnb located in Germiston. It is close to the airport but far from the action. Nevertheless, the apartment was gorgeous and very affordable.
Our first order of business was food, of course! Dinner was at Mojo located in Zoo lake area. Upon entering, we were immediately introduced to their modern African ambience with drums playing and traditional African dancers in the background. That is when it hit me that I was in the motherland. Their menu includes a selection of African dishes from around the continent. Everything we had was a hit! We thoroughly enjoyed it. Night 1 was a success!
Day 2 is when we really found out how far we were from the city. First thing on our tourist list was visiting the Nelson Mandela square in Sandton. After a brief photo and shopping session, we headed to Butcher Grill for a delicious lunch (a local's recommendation). We had lamb and seabass and both were a hit. Butcher grill also has a very impressive wine cellar with all South African wines. You get to order your wine right from the cellar.
Next on our agenda was the Apartheid museum. It was around 3pm and they close at 5pm. We thought we had plenty of time to see all the exhibits…wrong!! We managed to see the temporary Nelson Mandela exhibit but we barely saw half of the apartheid museum before we were kicked out at exactly 5pm. They do not play with their time over there. I would definitely visit again and make it an all day affair. The amount of history we took in was quite overwhelming. These are things that we do not get to read about or see on TV here in the States. The similarities between Slavery in the US and Apartheid is quite astonishing.
What a day right! Well, the day got more exciting. Lol After returning to our village in Germiston, we decided it was too far to be going back and forth to the city so we decided to check out early and head to Maboneng, an up and coming neighborhood in Joburg. It was more like a nightmare if you ask us! Stay tuned
