I walked three miles from my lodge, not a fancy one, along the park by the zoo, a lake for small boats, and lovely neighborhoods catch the Hop-on, Hop-off Bus Tour starting near the charming pedestrian mall. I like to sit on the top deck and it was not that hot. Since the bus had to wait for an arriving bus, the driver came up and introduced us to the tribal language with clicking sounds and made small dance movements with the words. He was really agile. I was so hoping to hear the language. It is almost impossible to learn as an adult and I was afraid it was not preserved. He had us all smiling and clapping.
Johannesburg is a young city, started by a gold rush about 1820. So no grand old buildings, but enough to add some charm. The city has preserved on site gold stamping machinery, we drove by the prisons. The Apartheid Museum takes two hours to explore the horrors of the history, and I did not visit. But a trip to Soweto offers lots of opportunity to hear more horrible stories of human cruelty, as I noted in my sketchbook above.
No, I did not go bungee jumping. But we stopped there.
We waited in front of this Casino for our small van to take us to Soweto, a slum of 5 million people, of whom 121 are white. What a contrast to this scene!
But I was surprised to see all the nice homes to the left. It seems when people have earned more money, they have stayed in the neighborhood and built better homes and made improvements.
This is where the bungee jumping is, abandoned coal stacks.
Here is a picture of Hector, being carried by his brother, after being shot by the police.
The school children were protesting they could only be taught trades, not reading, writing or arithmetic as white children were taught. June 16, 1976 is the date.
A lovely lady smiling at a little girl nearby.
I read the best book, “Jock of the Bushveld” stories about a dog named Jock in the time of the gold rush, first published 100 years ago in South Africa.
And back to the casino to catch the bigger bus.
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