Brazil in the World Cup 2010

Johannesburg is one of the host cities of the World Cup 2010, and  will stage both the opening and the final matches of the Cup (Soccer City, photo below; read more about the Soccer City Stadium); below, a concise travel guide to Johannesburg.

The biggest attraction in Johannesburg is the city itself it is truly an amazing place where cultures, creeds and life collides and you can do almost anything you like at any time of the day or night.

Johannesburg is lively, wild, thrilling, fun and above all interesting. If you enjoy life that is a little wild then clubbing is obviously something you do, and if clubbing is for you, you aren’t going to be disappointed with the clubbing and nightlife in Johannesburg the clubbing capital of Africa (read more about nightlife in Johannesburg).

If after a few night clubbing and then a couple of days relaxing around the pool you fancy something that will knock your socks off in a different way but you want to experience something that you will remember fro the rest of your life then you need to go to the Sabi Sands Game Reserve.

As they say this is Africa, but this is an Africa that is dying, and that is being drilled for oil, bulldozed for development, mined for minerals and sadly in some parts fought over. This is Africa and happily will always be as it was originally when animals and native peoples ruled and roamed the area and not settlers.

The Sabi Sands Game Reserve is 65,000 hectares of wild Africa that borders the Kruger National Park which allows animals to migrate between the two and that means that you will see water buffaloes, wildebeest antelopes, giraffes, elephants and so many more animals roaming free and being stalked by lions and other soft pawed predators.

Here, because of the neighbouring Kruger National Park animals are free to go where they please and that is because they have a total of 2.7 million hectares to walk around in and when they are doing that they are protected.

The Sabi Sands Game Reserve is perfect for visitors of the human variety and that is because it has some of the best Lodges in the world, there are 5 Five Star lodges which can accommodate your every need and whim and when you are not taking advantage of their services you can do what every visitor to Africa wants to do and that is go on Safari.

The number, type and range of Safaris offered in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and surrounding areas are numerous and each one attempts to take guests as close to the animals who live in the Sabi Sands Game Reserve and Kruger national Park without worrying the animals.

Safaris also provide employment for locals and that has meant that poaching has begun to drop which is good news for the elephants and other animals who were hunted for their teeth, tusks and all sorts of other personal bits and pieces that find their way into Chinese chemists.

Back in Johannesburg, city sightseeing will take you through the well kept streets with white washed houses to the Johannesburg around bright corners you’ll discover the Johannesburg Art Gallery or indeed the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens.

The Johannesburg Art Gallery is located in the beautifully manicured Joubert Park and houses some of the best examples of African art under the same roof as more traditional masterpieces from around the world and is well worth a visit.

The Johannesburg Botanical Gardens are some distance outside of Johannesburg on the Olifants Road in a town called Emmarentia which is also famous for the Emmarentia Dam as well as the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens.

The short trip is well worth it because you will be able to walk around a very peaceful place that no matter how many people seem to visit always give you the opportunity to be alone to watch breathtaking waterfalls or admire some of the most unusual plants in the world.

There are four thousand roses to sniff if you get in the middle of summer in the oldest part of the gardens the Rose Garden which is right next to the marvellous herb garden which grows only traditional African medicinal plants and herbs.

After you have enjoyed the wonderful plants in the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens you can enjoy what is described by some as the best place to walk a Dog in South Africa: the Emmarentia Dam. The Emmarentia Dam is actually a series of dams to the north of Johannesburg which were originally built by Dutch settlers over 300 years ago to stop the river flooding and breaking its banks.

Today the area is full of trees and nature and one of the most pleasant places to while away a summer’s afternoon watching sail boats and canoeists at play while Dogs swim and run around enjoying a bit of freedom.

While Johannesburg is rich and sun drenched sadly it has some neighbours which are much less fortunate. Soweto is a place where the revolution of the last 15 years of Rainbow Power has had little or no impact upon the people, who even today seem to be separate from the rest of South Africa as it becomes wealthier and much more affluent. Photo below, by Georgia University.

For all of that or indeed because of that Soweto is a lively place. It should be a mistake to describe a township as a happy place though so we won’t but on the other hand Soweto and the other townships which you can visit on a tour are interesting.

The music, the atmosphere in Soweto and the other town ships is wonderful, the colours that the good people of these places of great dilapidation and economic despair paint their houses encourages a sense of wild abandon.

When you visit Freedom Square in Soweto, the place where Nelson Mandela wrote the Freedom Charter the only thing that seems to have changed from the old days is the Mandela Museum which is well worth the price of entry.

You can stay along the only road in Soweto these days in a guesthouse and it is an eye opening experience and one that you will remember for as long as you live.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 9:57 pm and is filed under host cities, travel.