Dreams of South Africa Come True

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Our journey from Ohio to South Africa

We left Cincinnati, Ohio on January 16th and arrived 20 hours later in Johannesburg, South Africa. While in Jo'Burg, we toured Johannesburg, viewed some of the Big 5 at Pilanesburg Reserve and spent a day with distant German relatives.

On January 21st, we left for Cape Town a huge contrast from Johannesburg and took several guided tours along the cape peninsula. The Cape is absolutely beautiful and we could have spent 10 days there and not been bored. We had an amazing tour guide, Hanny Smuts, all to ourselves.

We had a fantastic time in South Africa and recommend this journey to anyone who has interest. The flight home to Ohio, from Cape Town was brutal, but if my 82 year old Grandfather can survive it, anyone can.

The pictures in this blog are only a small representation. I believe there are more than 600 pictures in all. I'm sure Blogger would not appreciate them all being uploaded here. Jennifer is working on a photo album, so if you want to see more of our pictures, let her know.

Many great memories were made on this trip and lots of funny conversations. Other than the SA scenery and tours, there are also some very funny memories shared between my grandfather and me. Oh yeah and lots of bets were made...if you know my Grandpa, you know he likes to bet. Here are some of my favorite moments:

Trying to discover where Dubai is located. Jennifer was convinced it's in India, Grandpa was convinced it's not, but couldn't say where. A bet was made, I believe it was 100 Rand. In order to resolve this bet, the concierge was called looking for a map and after that wasn't successful, we called a cousin in Florida, who wasn't home and eventually my brother in Ohio, who said he "thought" it was in the United Arab Emirates. We HAD to know! Actually the calls from South Africa to the US were cheap.

I discovered that Grandpa cannot hear. He said he'd rather read lips than have a hearing aid. HA! BUT, he agreed to get one if he could buy it from Wal-Mart. Ha ha

Grandpa was convinced there just had to be a Wal-Mart in South Africa...there isn't, but he asked everyone if there was one. The look on people's faces was priceless, they had no idea what a Wal-Mart is.

On our Safari vehicle, Grandpa didn't use all the steps to get down and he lost his footing. There was a very professional stunt roll done by Grandpa in order to save the camera. You'll be seeing him in an upcoming Mission Impossible film.

Woolworth's...yes, there's a Woolworth's in SA. We flew all the way to SA to buy washcloths from Woolworth's.

Jennifer's camera battery died on the second day...she brought a back-up battery for a camera she doesn't even own anymore. An extra battery would have cost $70, so Grandpa had to be the photographer for the rest of the trip.

Johannesburg airport...let's just say Grandpa got feisty with an airline rep. when they had not seated a man in a wheelchair before everyone else. I pretended not to know Grandpa until we were safely through security, but we had good laughs about it during the 20++ hour flight home.

Johannesburg- Sandton Hilton 1.17.07

In Johannesburg, we stayed at the Sandton Hilton; Grandpa is a Hilton Honors member. Because Johannesburg has become so volatile, the financial district has been moved to Sandton and is considered to be a safer place to stay for tourists. Sandton is about 20km from the airport and was very central to all of our day trips.

City of Sandton

Mall in front of our hotel

View from balcony

The pool...we did not use

Emirates Airline Stewardesses. The Hilton is where most of all airline personnel stay because it's in a "safe" area.

Lobby ceiling

Lobby

Jo'Burg City Tour-Sandton and Downtown 1.18.07

Guide for City Tour

Nelson Mandela's House

A College

View of Downtown from overlook

Nelson Mandela Bridge

Downtown Life

Jo'Burg City tour-Mandela's House 1.18.07

We took a tour of Nelson Mandela's first home. It still has all the original furniture, bedding etc.

Picture inside the house museum

Mandela House Guide and Grandpa

This is the church where Mandela and others gathered to rise against Apartheid. The church was the only place they could gather and not be arrested.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Jo'Burg City Tour- Soweto 1.18.07

Welcome to Soweto! This is how the wealthy live...

Winnie Mandela's Home

Soweto continued 1.18.07

There is a very large gap between wealthy and poor. The poor live in townships and most are emigrants who have come to Johannesburg in hope of a better life. The projected unemployment rate is 45%, but depending on who you talk to, this figure can be higher or lower.

Erik, our Soweto Township guide

Township residents

This woman let us come into her home

Her baby

Laundry time

No running water, but they have cellphones

Former Nuclear Reactor...not kidding

Oops!

Township toilet

Township homes for sale

World Cup Stadium in progress

Picture of World Cup Stadium to be built

Jo'Burg - Chi Chi 1.18.07

Grandpa met the lovely Chi Chi, online, during the beginning preparations of our trip to SA. She used to be a personal tour guide, and was recommended on a Yahoo Travel Guide. She is currently a student and lives at home with her father and brothers. Also, there are wedding bells in her future!

We had dinner at our hotel together and she told us about her life and what the news says about America. She said they like to follow the US celebrity gossip just like we do!

Jo'Burg- Pilanesburg Safari 1.19.07

It was a rough start today...the guide was late because of tourists at another hotel, we were stuck in morning traffic, and Birger was irritated when we picked him up because he had waited the longest for a pick-up, but once on the reserve, the frustration was well worth the delays. The reserve is about 2 hours away from downtown Johannesburg and there was alot of open space along the way.

These are only a snipet of the pics we have. I don't want blogger to crash!

On the way-Selling strawberries at a traffic light