Johannesburg

August 9, 2024

I got to sleep in today because my tour guide wasnt picking me up until 920 – 930. I got up and had breakfast (its free in my hotel!) which had even more options than the Prague hotel, just no honeycomb this time – but they do have Nutella.

My tour guide, Nathi, picked me up and I got in the van. There were already ten people in the van, so I figured I was the last one. Nope, we had another couple to pick up. So the back row was a bit cramped, at least I had a window.

Our first stop was the Old Fort prison on constitution hill. This prison is seven years older than the city itself. It is where white criminals were held until apartheid. At that point it became a jail for black and white men, of course separated but race. It housed some major political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, twice. At one point he was deemed too influencial so they housed him in the medical ward to “continue his education in silence,” but in reality it was to keep him away from others.

Parts of the jail were torn down after it closed in 1983, however the bathrooms, shower area, and solitary confinement remain. They also kept the stair wells for some of the buildings that were torn down. They had four stairwells that remained. Two are now part of the Constitutional court (supreme court) and two are outside of that, one of those now houses the eternal flame of democracy.

The supreme court allows you to enter when it is not in session, so we were lucky to be able to go in. The front doors are eight meters high, carved wood with each of the rights of the countrymen carved into it. South Africa has like 11 languages and so each right is in a different language.

The supreme court has so much symbolism. There are 11 judges, that sit in their chairs with the gallery sitting HIGHER than the judges, in the symbolic nature to show that no one is above the law (maybe the US should consider this).

After the supreme court we walked over to Nelson Mandela’s room in the hospital ward. It was an extrememly large room. They offered him a desk and comfortable bed as well.

From there we headed to the van to drive to Soweto to go see Nelson Mandela’s home. It is on the same street as Desmond Tutu’s house (however you cannot visit his house as his family is still occupying that house). We learned on the way to Mandela’s house that today is a national holiday, its Women’s Day! So, it meant that this street was going to be busy (and it was!).

Mandela’s house offers free tours by students who need to do volunteer hours. It was a quick little 20 minute tour (the house is small), but our tour guide was very kind and had lots of information. His house was shot at and often brutalized by the police while he was in jail but his wife Winnie and their two daughters still lived there. When he was released from prison he was only able to stay there for 11 days before they had to relocate because they had no privacy or security.

After Mandela’s house we walked down the street to eat lunch. It was a buffet, but it was pretty good. There was lots of different choices (four choices of meat, three salads, lots of sides, and dessert!) I got chicken, biryani, saffron rice and a salad. The chicken was basically just a whole chicken chopped up, with bones and all – eek! I was impressed with the flavor of everything and was glad we got lunch on this tour, I was very hungry as it was past 2pm.

We stopped by these two old coal towers on the way to the NFB stadium. I dont get why these coal towers are such a big deal, but our driver Nathi just kept saying “post your pictures, make these big!” They often repaint them with different advertisers, which is what is happening currently.

Our drive to the FNB stadium drove us by some slums. It was very sad to see these still (very) active tin houses, made from whatever the residents can get their hands on. There were lots of different slum neighborhoods.

The FNB stadium is the largest soccer stadium in Africa. It holds over 94,000 spectators. They have redone the stadium to have it hold more, it used to hold 80-some thousand. The world cup games were played here in 2010 when SA hosted the games.

Our final stop was the Apartheid Museum. We only had about 90 minutes in the museum, and the sign says plan for 2.5 hours, but it was 3:30 and the museum closes at 5pm. I took in what I could from the museum, it was VERY informative and FULL of information, I would recommend it to anyone. It was beautifully done with so many different aspects, some of which I didnt even get to see.

We all loaded back up in the van and were dropped off in reverse order that we were picked up in.

I dropped my bag off in the room and then headed out to dinner. I chose Mr. George a quieter (sound-wise) restaurant and ordered tuna poke – it was AMAZING! I also got fries, because for some reason I love them outside of the states.

After dinner, it was time for gelato and then bed! I have another tour tomorrow, at least this one is only a half day!