Hi, hello.
Back with another recap that should have been written three months ago.
I already posted my 4 Days in Mozambique Recap, which you can find here. As well as the budget breakdown for this entire trip, found here. So technically I am not completely failing at this blogging my trips stuff, I am just super duper late on it.
Going to Johannesburg, South Africa was the second leg of the three weeks I spend in Africa. Eventually, I will finish writing about the first leg in Lagos, Nigeria – but two out of three legs written isn’t too bad. Lots of photos, lots of information and lots of shenanigans to get to.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, December 19th
Today we were flying from Lagos to Nairobi to Johannesburg. Well, actually we flew late at night on the 18th, but arrived on 19th.
I wish I could tell you anything about the airport in Nairobi, but we literally walked from one gate to the other. That was the extent of our experience in the airport. Quick quick layover.
Just wanted to say that Kenya Airways fed us during both legs of the flights (they have the best apple juice I have ever tried) and also have the most-reclined-economy-seats-ever!! On the second flight, I had a child sitting behind me and I damn near almost reclined into a fully laying down position? I never ever recline. But listen, I was really happy to be able to on this specific flight.
On arrival, be prepared, if there are many other international flights arriving, the line for customs will be lengthy. We didn’t need any visas and they didn’t even ask for our yellow fever vaccine certificates (since we were coming from Nigeria) at Joburg airport, they had asked that prior to departing Lagos. This, I think, speeds it up a little?
We picked up our bags and went to find our pre-booked driver to take us to the hotel.
We arrived at the Premier Hotel Quatermain in the early afternoon. Didn’t feel like it was a super long drive from the airport to Sandton, where the hotel was located.
The hotel was very nice, quaint and quiet. There is a pool in the courtyard, the customer service is great and our room also had a heated towel rail we could turn on and off. FANCY SHMANCY!!!
Got into our room, ordered some South African KFC, showered, went to sleep. I know this sounds like a complete waste of a day, but we were exhausted from the traveling from Lagos to here. We needed the sleep before we could get into any shenanigans. I believe we fell asleep at about 2-3pm and both woke up at damn near midnight. That was a long and necessary sleep.
Only other thing to add for this day (kind of this day, since early AM next day?) – at about 2am, after the long sleep, we saw a TikTok of a hotel that looked really nice over in Pretoria and on a whim, decided to book that for one night. I see now why those damn TV shopping networks make so much money in the wee hours of the night, definitely impressionable then. But, YOLO.
More on the impulsively booked hotel later.
Wednesday, December 20th
Today, we were ready to take on the world. Being well rested and nicely fed from the hotel breakfast, it was time to go gallivant.
First stop for us was Nelson Mandela Square.
I was under the impression that this was ‘just‘ a square for Nelson Mandela, I didn’t know it was a mall and other things too.
One thing that was especially clutch for Nelson Mandela square was the free Wi-Fi. Wanted to make sure I mentioned this here, because the phone signals in Johannesburg (for us) were really wonky. My friend and I had both purchased e-sims for South Africa, barely worked. I even tried to use my Rogers Roam Like Home, barely worked. Not sure what the deal was at all. We weren’t in some remote part of South Africa, but whether we were in Pretoria, Soweto, Joburg or out in the safari? On and off. Sometimes the internet signal would work, but MOST times it was not functioning on our phones at all.
Nelson Mandela Square also had a really cool NBA Store inside. Make sure if you’re a basketball fan you stop by. We were delighted seeing old Vince Carter Raptor’s jerseys on sale! Sick.
On this little field trip, we did have a food spot in mind that we really wanted to try. The place is called Shazmin’s Luxe Patisserie, also at Nelson Mandela Square. Really convenient.
If you LOVE sweets and LOVE chocolate, like I do? You have to stop by this place.
I ordered the Matilda Cake and yaaaaaaaaaaaaaah it was so good. Usually chocolate cakes can be kind of stiff and boring. Not this cake. This is by far the best chocolate cake I had ever eaten, it was so moist and the portion of the damn slice was crazy. Spending time here and enjoying the cutesy ambiance and delicious sweets was pretty awesome. The lights at the mall did cut out for a couple of seconds, but after being in Nigeria with their power outages, what was a few seconds? Nothing. Load shedding inside a mall with a strong generator? Non issue.
Now, I was really debating if I should write this in my blog post, but since I write about everything, here it is.
My best friend Jummy, that was traveling with me, is Nigerian. I am the palest of white on the planet, from Bosnia. We felt very uncomfortable walking through Nelson Mandela Square due to the stares we received from people. I don’t know what it was about, I really do try NOT to assume things – but it was palpable that people were constantly staring at us. Jummy isn’t a hothead like I am, and even she began staring right back at people and asking what their problem was after a while.
All races of people were just ALWAYS staring at us. It was strange, because I had just come from Lagos where I did/we did not get any stares like this. In Mozambique, same thing. No one paid us any attention at all. At some point I was thinking maybe they thought we were a same-sex couple and that was a problem?
I spoke to some people we met in Vilanculos that were from Durban and the explanation we got was (verbatim) ‘well, apartheid only ended in 1994, so you two walking together is still something to stare at in South Africa.’
I know we live in our little enclave in Toronto, but this was so damn unusual for me and her. We had been to MANY MANY countries together and yeah, this was absolutely a first.
Not sure if this would be the case in a place like Cape Town? But, in Johannesburg it happened non-stop.
After our fill of stares and cake, we went back to our hotel for a quick nap before dinner.
We took an Uber over to Saint Restaurant.
Now this place? Wow. Just wow. Whoever designed it, kudos. It was such a beautiful restaurant and the service was a 10/10.
As soon as we were seated, a sommelier came to talk to us. I don’t drink wine, but Jummy does and ordered some nice white South African wine. The glass was only $6.00? Hello? Awesome.
The portions here were huge. My dish was with prawns and when they brought me the food I thought it was lobster. That is how huge the damn prawns are there. Holy moly.
We ate a lot of food and had some drinks, the total MAY have come to $60-$70 for both of us. Going to a fancy place, with such good food for this low of an amount? Amazing. Great experience.
Thursday, December 21st
This is a day that Jummy and I had been especially looking forward to for MONTHS. I mean, MONTHS ON MONTHS.
Today we were going on safari to Pilanesberg National Park.
The pick up was at 615am and listen, eat breakfast before you go on this. The drive to this park was almost two hours. It is lengthy!!
On arrival we transferred from the van into an open-air Jeep. Able to see everything from all angles.
I suggest you bring a hat and lots of sunscreen for this excursion, the sun was hot hot hot.
We saw lots of elephants, zebras, impalas, a hippo, a rhinoceros and even a giraffe! There was also a lunch included in the middle of the day. Had a wonderful time, saw so much.
The experience of being in a vehicle that has no protection from the animals makes you feel so vulnerable. I kept thinking to myself that if a jaguar or lion wanted to run up on us, we are done. There are no windows to close or lock, these things can maul us at any point. Thankfully, they did not.
After the long day at the safari, we had the long drive back to Sandton. This felt like an eternity because you’re sweaty and tired. Be prepared for a long day.
If any of you are interested in this tour, click here.
Of course, we took another little nap after the safari.
Then we took an Uber over to Soweto to eat at 1947 on Vilakazi Street.
Jummy and I both ordered soup at this restaurant. Both were VERY good. Then we finished off the meal with some cake, also good. I wish we hadn’t been so damn tired, because this area on Vilakazi street had so much going on. Looks like a party area, we would have loved to participate. But the safari and sun got us good. Took an Uber right back to Joburg.
Friday, December 22nd
Today was going to be another awesome day.
We woke up and headed over to Aronia Day Spa.
I had made our appointments for this spa waaay ahead of time and sent the deposit for the day.
The spa is beautiful and just hanging out by their pool would have been a perfect day. But of course, we had some body work to get done. My booking was for a full body scrub and a 60-minute Indian Head Massage. I love head massages. I have terrible back problems and STILL, if someone offered me 90 minutes of a back massage or a head massage? I’d take the latter. It is so relaxing and they took very good care of us at Aronia Day Spa.
If we didn’t have plans afterwards, we could have easily spent the whole day here just relaxing by the pool and ordering some food.
My fully body scrub + 60-min head massage and Jummy’s full body wrap and 60-min lymphatic drainage massage came to $170.00 Canadian. INSANE PRICE. I realize this may be costly for South African prices, but us, as Toronto people? HA.
Usually just a 60-min massage in Toronto is $150.00. Being able to spend two hours at a spa and have four different things done for damn near same price is incredible. If you’re in Joburg, definitely go visit here.
Remember that impulsive hotel booking from the first day we were in Joburg? Time to head there.
We took a one hour Uber over to Pretoria for this stay.
The name of the hotel was MINT Resorts the Blyde.
When you see the photos of this place, you will fully understand why we made the booking we did – especially it being only $130.00 CAD for the night.
Very chic resort/hotel, the grounds are clean and they have their own manmade beach. This place would be a dream to stay at …… if it wasn’t for the fucking security measures.
Listen, I understand that South Africa is not the safest country. But, I travel to unsafe countries all the time. Yes, we felt unwelcome with the stares by people, but we never felt unsafe in Joburg, Soweto or Pretoria. That is not to say there ISN’T danger, and I mean we stayed in some fancy pants places. But, we never felt that danger that is evidently present.
Our hotel in Joburg did have a security gate and someone standing there to open said gate to enter in and out. No big deal. But THIS PLACE? This was someone American-Embassy-On-Foreign-Land-Compound shit.
Prior to even coming to this hotel, I had to upload all of our information, which included our passport photos and info. They had a whole app to do this with and I literally had said to Jummy the day before, ‘watch, all these things won’t even work when we get there.’ I understand people want to streamline hotel check ins and security protocol, but I never ever have a good experience with it.
I was right.
We pull up to the entry to this resort compound and the security person not only doesn’t have our information, the pin code the hotel gave us is also not working. Our names were not on their list. The pin didn’t work. They took photos of our Uber driver, scanned something on his car, and tried to enter our pin over and over, nothing. We had to call the front desk to get them to communicate with security so we could finally enter.
Such a goddamn headache. And what was even worse? To enter AND exit, you had to do this process. Even with departing, they needed all that information. That’s too much damn security for me. We had to tell our Ubers to pick us up outside the gates, because getting them to be able to come get us at the actual hotel was too much work. I am so happy we booked only ONE night at this place. As beautiful s it is, I do not have the patience for these kinds of protocols and I like to come and go as I please.
We hung out at the beach for a little bit – oh, you also need your bags checked entering the beach area. Figure I’d mention that.
Our dinner reservations in Pretoria were at this place named Kream Restaurant Brooklyn.
So, I am not a big sushi fan. I don’t consider it real food as I am Eastern European and my good needs to include meat, potatoes and bread at some point. Also, we didn’t come to no damn South Africa to eat sushi. However, for an appetizer they had this one type and listen, bomb dot com. It was delicious. If you go here you must order the CHARRED SALMON & CREAM CHEESE ROLL. This is the one. Outstanding. We also had alligator as an appetizer, this was good too.
For my main I got the roasted bone marrow and then some cake for dessert. Everything was great at Kream Restaurant. Our server, the food and the place is so pretty.
Saturday, December 23rd
We paid an extra $30.00 Canadian for late check out at Mint The Blyde. We wanted to still spend some more time on the beach before heading back to Joburg.
When we did get back to Joburg, we dropped out stuff at Quatermain, took a shower and got ready for a nice night out.
Tonight we had reservations at the highest, urban bar in Africa – Alto 234.
For this I also had to pay for our reservation months ahead. The deposit for the two of us was $53.60 Canadian.
When you come here, it is very luxurious. Definitely try to make a reservation around sunset like we did. The views are incredible and when you arrive you are greeted with a glass of Moët.
There was groups of people there, people on dates and people also taking their engagement photos. A lot going on.
Have some drinks there, for sure. The food was just OK, some tapas. Definitely should have eaten a real dinner before we began drinking. Ah well.
Totally worth going up there though. This was the most perfect way to spend our evening before flying on to Mozambique in the morning tomorrow.
Wednesday, December 27th
This was the day we returned from Vilanculos. We just needed a stay for the night because on the 28th, we were heading back to Lagos.
We took an Uber over to Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre, Johannesburg, O.R. Tambo.
Do not let this name fool you though. You see how the name of the airport in Johannesburg is in the name of this hotel? It is a lie. There are hotels literally next to the airport that you can walk to. This hotel ended up being a 15-20 minute drive away. It is a very nice hotel, do not get me wrong, but we were expecting that this would be much closer to the airport because of the name.
Our mistake.
The staff was nice, the room was very nice and we were able to get a good night sleep before our flights.
As you can tell, Joburg wasn’t exactly my favourite place I’ve traveled to. I know I shouldn’t compare cities with other cities, but I do. Coming from Lagos, Nigeria where everyone was super friendly and warm, without being stared at and then going to Johannesburg where it was totally opposite, not awesome.
Aside from the amazing customer service in restaurants and hotels, people just were not welcoming or warm to us. Our Uber drivers barely even said hello, people on the street didn’t engage, nothing. I just don’t feel like I’d want to come back here. However, I am 10000% down to return and visit Cape Town hoping for a different experience.
The positives are pretty strong here as well.
The weather was immaculate, there was no traffic (unlike Lagos, 24/7), the fancy restaurants were affordable for us and tasty, the spa was affordable and even all the Ubers we took were very affordable. I would say that Johannesburg is still somewhere YOU should visit, not avoid. As two girls traveling together, we also never felt unsafe.
Happy travels….
- Mirna