A trip around South Africa by car (a subjective view of South Africa). January 2013
A trip around South Africa by car (a subjective view of South Africa). January 2013
The New Year holidays were approaching. It was necessary to choose a place where they could be held. The weather maps of the world have been studied and it has been concluded that, in general, there is nowhere to go except for Southeast Asia and Egypt. And since the beach holiday is already pretty fed up, I just wanted to see something in comfortable warm weather conditions. Europe, unfortunately, did not fit, after all, winter. Therefore, the gaze was turned to the southern hemisphere, where it should be summer at this time. Of all the southern countries in terms of location and attractiveness, South Africa was the most suitable. By all criteria, there was nothing more diverse in terms of opportunities to see all sorts of different things and relax on the sea. And also South Africa attracted to itself, like an unknown and unknown world, like a magnet.
After looking at the prices and excursion programs of travel agencies, I realized that only an independent trip can minimize costs and adapt to our personal schedule, since the trip was planned with a child (daughter 7 years old). Having studied the possibilities of obtaining a visa, I came to the conclusion that it is not difficult to obtain it through specialized companies. Obtaining a visa turned out to be a difficult process of collecting all sorts of certificates. Of these, the most difficult information is about the movement of funds in the accounts. My movement in 2012 was quite active, therefore, for me personally, it was not difficult to confirm the availability of funds. But, for example, a year earlier, I had no accounts at all and it would be problematic to confirm anything. Another visa agency asked for confirmation directly from the hotels of my booking. With two hotels it was possible to book directly, while others were only booked through booking. com.
Therefore, I called the South African Consulate in Moscow and found out that they also accept booking confirmations through the main booking systems. Finally, I got the visa. Multivisa to visit South Africa within 3 months for 30 days. But it cost three dearly - 29.000 rubles (the consular fee itself is small, but a bunch of intermediary services - translation, agency, courier - resulted in such an amount). There are still nuances when obtaining a visa, that a visa is issued when you have redeemed round-trip tickets in your hands (and booking hotels basically follows the principle that if you refuse it later, you lose part or all of the cost of the reservation). So it is desirable, when planning an independent trip, to clearly define the routes and places of overnight stays.
The flight was carried out from St. Petersburg - Lufthansa to Munich - and from there by South African Airlines to Johannesburg.
I was afraid that visa problems might arise when transferring and reloading luggage, since there was no Schengen visa, but everything worked out. The luggage flew without our participation from St. Petersburg to Johannesburg (just in case, I reminded the airline staff about the luggage at check-in), but a visa was not required - we were in the transit zone - without leaving the airport. The same thing happened on the way back - they flew from Cape Town via Johannesburg, then Frankfurt am Main to St. Petersburg. The luggage flew well without our participation. And the transit zone also made it possible to do without a Schengen visa. Tickets booked through ozon. ru per month. I looked again, beforehand, 2 months in advance, it was possible to buy tickets for these dates cheaper by 20.000 rubles. A long flight from Germany to South Africa is not very difficult to endure, since it mostly takes place at night - and willy-nilly, you fall asleep (at least spend some time in a dream).
Feeding tolerable, of course, not a restaurant, but generally normal. In flight, the first - as I would call it - a clash of cultures began. Most of the crew were black - and I tried to smile at eye contact. In response, I did not receive a smile (as I used to in Europe). At first, I attributed this to crew fatigue. But as it turned out later in my entire trip, in order to cause a smile and the disposition of black, one must make certain efforts. When entering into contact, you come across a wall of distrust. In their eyes, as it is written in our convicts, Don't believe, don't be afraid, don't ask. A very dry greeting and, how can one not recall the valiant Latvian border guards, such as why did you come here at all, and it’s not bad without you. This was especially clearly reflected when passing through border control upon arrival in Johannesburg.
A fat black lady - barely fitting behind the counter - did everything so reluctantly, especially checking the dates of return flights and the purpose of the visit, which, in general, I understood that I would probably have to smile in a limited way, only on the topic. We went through customs quickly (I would say we didn’t look at anything at all, along the green corridor). I immediately changed the currency at the airport so that there was cash. Although most of it remained on the card. And there I bought a SIM card for a phone with a local number and 1GB Internet access. About 1000 rubles. You don’t need to register phones and take passports with you (as I read somewhere) - just buy and activate a SIM card with the help of a seller. Again, it was hard to find a common language with the black seller - he was somehow clamped and laconic, sort of like when he was performing, he was all on a serious note. Especially such a serious note for black women in the workplace. There, in general, everything is very serious, as if a person in the position of president of the country is no less).
I bought 3 electric plug adapters for European type plugs. Picked up the car at Europcar (it took 30 minutes to complete, there was a small queue). All this took about 1.5 hours, during which I understood a lot, and in the future my guesses were only confirmed. Namely: 1. It turned out that I practically do not know English. Previously, in my travels in non-English-speaking countries, I easily communicated and they understood me and I understood - apparently everyone learns the language at an elementary level - like - my yours understand. Here I was understood from the first time by a few. And I understood only a small part of the phrases addressed to me. Everyone spoke English, but with different non-English accents. The Negroes-with their-stretching, the accent of the Boers-resembled a cluck, the rest blurred and inexpressive. In general, I didn’t hear the language that I passed in the school’s language headphones (only sometimes on TV with South African announcers and presenters). 2.
The relationship of blacks to whites is not loved here and is very wary. 3. The ratio of whites to whites is very good, friendly, as in Europe (maybe even more). Ready to help and advise. These three points are especially pronounced in and around the Johannesburg area. When moving towards Cape Town, they weaken by 50 percent, in proportion to the distance.
Finally, we loaded into a Toyota Corolla car (although I ordered a little more, like Avensis), but in general everything fit, so I didn’t change it. Especially since the car was brand new, mileage 6000 km. I had a navigator in my phone with IGO - turned it on, mentally tuned in to driving with a right-hand drive and drove to the hotel. The hotel was located about 15 km. The roads were empty. It was January 1st. It was summer. (The New Year -2013, never came for me. Consciousness refused to believe it - without the standard meeting procedure - in front of the TV, table, Christmas tree, congratulations from the president and the chiming clock.
And unscrupulous pilots and stewardesses did not congratulate the passengers, they did not record the historical date). We arrived at the hotel quickly and without incident - the room was not ready yet, ate in the hotel cafe - and were happy with the bill - 1200 rubles for huge portions of food for two. This hotel was one of the best on our itinerary. Particularly pleased with the presence of a supermarket on the ground floor. In fact, it was possible to live at all without leaving the hotel. Yes, and the area was also quite safe - Orthodox Jews lived around, walked in their recognizable clothes. As for the rooms, I chose apartments with a kitchen all the way - in order to cook food for the child. The rooms were quite good quality and big like 2-3 room apartments. Having put myself in order, I decided to go, since it was still quite light, to the Russian Orthodox Church, between Johannesburg and Pretoria. 30 kilometers from the hotel. At the same time and practice driving with the right steering wheel.
At first, everything seemed to be going well, only the wipers and turn signals were confused, which was annoying. And then I go into the oncoming lane at a traffic light on a very busy highway. All the oncoming cars buzzed to me and I moved into the correct lane - straight into the hands of the traffic police - they just caught the turn at this traffic light (perhaps, according to the Russian tradition, drunk drivers after January 1). The black policeman happily stopped me and began to speak. From the whole set of words, I understood that he should arrest me for this violation. He asked for rights, when he saw them he twisted them in his hands, without understanding my name, he asked again, but then he even stopped trying. And since, in preparation for the trip, I watched one program where some Ukrainian emigrant told how good the police in South Africa are, that they only help and don’t take bribes, I was set up accordingly.
But the policeman did not let up (the arguments that I was from Russia and the first day I was driving right-handed were not accepted and did not even seem to be understood) - and I was in a nervous shock, forgetting both English and Russian, as well as sign language, I tried to express my remorse with my eyes committed. Through the veil of thoughts about the disruption of the entire trip because of my arrest - and the further fate of my family (since my wife knows nothing at all - neither the route nor the language - only I do everything) - separate phrases began to break through - like how can I help in such holiday mr policeman. I did not dare to believe my ears - such familiar and native words, did not dare to be the first to offer something - but suddenly it seemed to me. So we argued for a long time - I asked him to voice his wishes - and he avoided answering, asking him to write on a piece of paper. In general, I could not stand it and asked How much? (How much).
He began to talk about the severity of my violation - I offered 200 rand (700 rubles) - he pretended that it was not enough, but he agreed, like in honor of the holiday, so be it. Then they said goodbye to him for a long time - he wrote me in detail on a piece of paper how to go (although I didn’t need it - the navigator led so well) and shook his hand for a long time. Both joyful (I'm from what carried through) - said goodbye. For a long time I cursed that Ukrainian emigrant for incorrect information (perhaps in vain, but it was easier on my soul, someone had to answer for this case). In fact, it is probably good that this happened at the very beginning of the journey. I became especially attentive on the road and in the future there were no such excesses, and it became clearer how to interact with the police in case of complications.
By the way, about the fact that we are from Russia, this argument does not roll at all, in the sense that they know practically nothing about Russia in South Africa at all (especially black ones) - for them it is something like Costa Rica or something similar - unknown. Only sausages that are sold everywhere are reminiscent of Russia in South Africa - they are called Russian (I tried - not particularly tasty). That is, a respectful exclamation - like O-O-O RUSSIA! - I've never heard of it. It's a mild surprise, at best. We did make it to the church that day. The church is beautiful, located in some village, seemingly not poor at first glance, but there were many blacks there. Looks like middle class. The whole church, like all the houses in the area, is surrounded by electric wire in a circle (I came closer and heard electric clicks and the hair on my arm was electrified). Naturally, it was closed, it was on January 1.17-00, although children's voices were heard in the courtyard.
We did not bother the hosts, especially since the whole protective entourage did not arouse the desire to go inside, after all, faith is a very thin matter - God is for everyone - and the entrance to it should not be blocked by electric current. But apparently in this country there are no shrines for criminals, that even churches are dressed in a thorn (in Durban, the mosque is also all girded in a circle). After taking pictures near the church, we noticed a black man walking in our direction, deciding not to tempt fate, we quickly retreated, and the car and drove back to the hotel. Before the trip, I read and saw enough about crime in South Africa. There was even a desire to cancel the trip, I was so scared, but South Africa beckoned to me. Therefore, I decided to prepare for the trip - I took a few knives, special shoes - where you could hide the money, pumped up a little and mastered several self-defense techniques in the gym. All this, thank God, was not useful to me.
But in reality, all the time, almost until the end of the trip, I was in great tension - I was ready for an attack at any moment. It's very exhausting, like in a war. Toward the end, the principles of behavior in South Africa became more clear so as not to get into trouble. The principles are simple - do not get into slum areas (townships) even during the day, do not walk the streets in the evening after 19-00 and at night (especially one). Hide all jewelry and valuables. Lock the car and keep the windows closed (although I have seen many whites neglect the latter). The main crime seems to be concentrated in black areas - especially in townships (local slums). Blacks live there in inhuman conditions, such as construction trailers, only much easier. There are also illegal taverns-shibins, where the entire male and female population of 14 years and above drink too much. It looks like there are no or few schools there. Drunk, poor, hungry and uneducated blacks, with remnants of tribal relations.
What can be expected from them? They kill each other, rape, rob. And if you are also white, then everything is clear. Specially bought yellow press. The whole newspaper is devoted to these things - and only for one week. There were all known types of crime + the problem of high school delinquency among black high school students in such areas. The police carry out whole raids and seize weapons. Teachers are afraid to go into classrooms and teach. Even the residents themselves admit that in such a village without a weapon you can’t even go to the toilet (apparently the toilet is on the street). According to my observations, the struggle is ongoing, the police on the streets near and inside such villages are constantly patrolling quite a lot. There are a lot of church educational organizations, the authorities are trying to organize education. Efforts are quite a lot attached (unlike Russia, where similar things happen in many villages). In general, South Africa is an automobile country.
The principle of life is that everything you need can be visited by car. All shopping centers, shops, restaurants, gas stations, tourist places and attractions are under protection. Guarded parking everywhere. They are like oases in the desert. People of all races feel safe here. They calmly walk, walk, shop, take pictures, withdraw money from ATMs. Even the faces of many change, become serene. Therefore, during the whole trip it turned out that we traveled through these oases and, in general, a feeling of relative safety was created along them. In general, in Russia now the same principle is where it is necessary - I drove by car, bought it, walked around. looked home. You can live in South Africa, especially if you earn money. I watched ads for the sale of real estate - a lot of houses for sale from 15 to 25 million rubles. and up to 100 million rub. That is, people have money. I bought a special newspaper-type Jobs. Lots of job ads.
Salaries on average for unskilled labor - a security guard, a driver, a salesman, a cleaner from 17.500 rubles. up to 30.000 rubles The average managerial staff, such as the administrator of a store, a spa, a pharmacist, is 30.000-50.000 rubles. IT staff and managers - 100.000-200.000 rubles. The highest paid mining engineers are 250.000-350.000 rubles per month. The most demanded-security guards-17500 rubles. on average, and specialists in the installation of security systems-24.000 rubles. Therefore, it remains unclear to me why there is unemployment in the country, if there are so many vacancies. Most likely - according to the same principle as ours - in large cities there are vacancies, but there is nowhere to live or it is expensive. Smaller ones don't have jobs. There are many cars in the country - all decent, fresh. Car junk units. They drive quite normally (including black ones, although I read somewhere that they don’t know how to drive at all, this is not so). The roads are mostly good, but in some places they come across not very well and with poor markings (like ours). Limit 120 km per hour.
I sometimes accelerated to 150 km per hour, but this is very rare, in completely deserted places. Basically, all drivers follow the speed limit.
Johannesburg. It was scheduled for 4 days. The first day flew out, as they only managed to get well and go to an Orthodox church. On the second day, I wanted to go on a sightseeing tour of the city on a double-decker bus, but they postponed the opening of their tours to January 15 (although they planned to open on January 1), went to the Golden Reef amusement park. By type similar in other cities of the world. The highlight of this park, which is worth a visit, is a mothballed mine where gold was mined. There, at a depth of 200 meters, they descend by elevator and conduct an excursion. And since the tour was in English, we did not understand many of the nuances, but on the whole we were imbued with the atmosphere. And they understood why miners in South Africa periodically go on strike. Labor inhuman, infernal.
The rest of the rides are all pretty banal - and they can be found in almost any major city (both in Russia and the world). Although the weather that day was partly cloudy, we were slightly sunburned. The time was about 17-00-the Apartheid Museum, located opposite the park, had already closed and we went to the lion park, 45 km away. Luckily, it's open until 8pm. We did not particularly hope to see anything, but we arrived quickly and quite interestingly spent the rest of the day there. We petted little lion cubs and a giraffe that walked around the parking lot and ate leaves from trees. It was so unusual and amazing - a giraffe and so close! and went on a small safari in the park, where we saw many different animals. And most importantly, feeding the lions, how they pounced on pieces of meat in a flock and fought and tore the meat into pieces and growled and sucked up to the leaders for the sake of this meat. And all this is 2 meters from the cage-window of our car. We then visited 3 similar parks, and this one I would call the best.
The night came - 21-30, and we went to the hotel. Everywhere it was written that the streets are empty after 18-00 and rampant crime begins, so it was scary to return, especially since the path lay past the slums. But everything turned out not so scary. The flow of cars was quite large - the slums were away from the highway - the streets were empty - there were no people, we arrived quickly and calmly. The third day was devoted to a large excursion program - Pretoria-Sun City.
We started with the Voortrekker Monument – www. voortrekkermon. org. za - a memorial dedicated to the advancement and conquest of Africa by the Boers and, first of all, victories over the black tribes. Quite an interesting place. In spirit, it resembles a kind of white brotherhood. Very friendly Afrikaners (began to speak Afrikaans) - like welcome you white brother (although there were also black workers on the territory). In the same place there are several more museums and a military fort (and some other park, but there is generally nothing to see there).
Museums are dedicated to the horrors of the Anglo-Boer Wars and the Angolan War. They made a sad impression on me. So many people died, but why? Did it make any sense? What once seemed important has now completely lost its meaning and understanding. Angola, in general, practically our Afghan, mostly white young soldiers fought and died. So the white population is catastrophically small - especially in this area, Johannesburg-Pretoria. All the time I was mentally looking for white people, on the streets and in cars. And every time I noticed them, I wanted to greet them in the mouth-front style. It was then, further from these places, that the proportion slowly changed and in Cape Town it reached an almost European concentration of the white population. From the memorial, we immediately drove to Pretoria (a few kilometers nearby). I had guidebooks with me with a map of the main attractions - there are actually few of them. Union Building and downtown.
In general, as it turned out, all large cities in South Africa are built according to the same principle - everything interesting from the point of view of architecture is located in the center on a small patch. And other architectural delights are very rare. Little and of the same type - the old architecture, and the new modern one is also close to 0. On the streets of Pretoria, we met only one white drunkard Boer - he offered to help if he could. The streets are 100% black. We went out to take pictures. In general, no one showed aggression, they looked at us with a little interest. And it even seemed to me with a slight degree of benevolence, like - and tourists go to us. Quite a lot of rubbish. Why the unemployed are not thrown into this business is not clear (for example, in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, garbage was observed only in the slum area). Drunk pseudo-parkers have stuck. They offered for 70 rubles to leave the car for an hour, like no one will touch it, I gave it (although they stood for 10 minutes).
They bought a painting from the Union Building from the artist (the only one) - it ended up being cheaper - in other places the artists themselves do not sell, only through galleries, and there the mark-up is 2-4 times. Anyway, I did not relax and was ready for anything (although in reality the people around did not look like villains - rather, on the contrary, some of them, on the contrary, needed protection and help themselves). Judging by the fragments of the programs and a superficial glance, it seems that the reverse process has begun in the country - the restoration of the rights of the old owners or the renewal and transformation into normal houses - those that were previously occupied illegally. There are a lot of posters in Pretoria calling for reporting the illegal use of communal goods (electricity, water, etc. ) Having examined Pretoria in 2.5 hours, there is still time to inspect Sun City. This is the territory of the former bantustan, where they built an entertainment complex with a casino (there used to be tax preferences).
Having studied the information about Sun City in advance, I understood that, in general, there was nothing special to see there. Analogues of this can be found at any more or less large resort, for example, in Turkey or Thailand (most likely even much more interesting). But there is also Pilanesberg Park and safaris are held there, and, as follows from the Internet, evening-night safaris. So I decided to combine a brief inspection of the complex itself with such a safari. It was 15:00. We had to drive about 150 km. Around 17-00 we were in Sun City (thanks to good toll roads and a small flow of cars, although we had to drive 70 kilometers along more modest ones). Having driven into the territory, we decided to see the main 5-star hotel, positioned as a palace. But only visitors to this hotel were allowed there.
For a small bribe of 70 rubles, we entered the territory and took pictures, I repeat, I wasn’t impressed, we saw and cooler (there was also a guard inside and didn’t want to let him in, we decided not to give a bribe because looking into the hall, we also didn’t see miracles). The only interesting thing is a flock of mongooses swirling on the lawn (I have not seen them before). We looked at the golf course. We looked into the pool with waves, but it was already 18-00, a crowd of people came out of there, and when we finally got there, it was no longer working. Judging by the number of people and the size of the pool, everyone is standing there like on a bus at rush hour. The earthquake bridge also no longer worked, but in general the principle of operation is clear. If we stand on any bridge in St. Petersburg where trams run, then you will feel the earthquake at 6. And there he is very modest, with a mechanical drive. There are also a lot of shops and gaming machines, a cinema, cafes. In general, a banal entertainment center with a bunch of people.
People come for a few days and live in hotels. In general, the general principle of entertainment centers in South Africa is the presence of a large number of shops - and at first glance inappropriate from souvenirs to pharmacies, household appliances and food. We bought an enema for a child there - the process of explaining with gestures was very lively and, if possible, intelligent on my part - the black woman seller was the first to break the rules of the game - demonstrating more clearly how to use it with gestures. We were lucky - we had time for a night safari tour at 19-00. Night came, we drove into the park with a guide in a special car. There were more people. A lot of cars were leaving the park. With such traffic, it became clear to me that it seems that we will not see animals at all. In general, we drove for a long time. The conductor shone on the sides with a single lantern (later I found out that at night animals are afraid of the light - they go blind and disorientated - so only he shone).
It was dark, cool and a strong wind was blowing. The car shook and smelled of diesel. The whole company died (the conductor gave out blankets). We rode for 3 hours - we saw an elephant, hippos, antelopes, zebras, a hare and owls. We also stood in complete silence - listened to the croaking of frogs and admired the constellation of the Southern Cross. Everyone themselves was not happy that they went on this safari. In general, this experience helped us decide on the selection of further safaris, and just how to take time was also not bad. For the money (not very large 3500 rubles, but in other more interesting parks it was much cheaper and more interesting), what they paid turned out to be almost complete nonsense. Tired, chilled, and some fell asleep, we finally got to our car. It was 22:00. We had to drive about 200 km to our hotel. Everyone who wanted to leave had already left a long time ago, the rest stayed overnight in their hotels in Sun City. Our car was the only one that left the gate.
There were practically no cars on the track (rare lonely cars came across, one per 30 km). I accelerated to 120 km per hour (only afraid of crashing into some kind of animal, people don’t walk at this time, and the area is relatively deserted). I was glad that the press did not mention night robberies on such tracks. By the way, in Russia, in the area of the highway to Vladivostok, this still happens. Passing through the local villages, I tried to slip through at full speed (although it seems everyone was sitting at home). In general, after 2.5 hours (around 01-00), we, having passed the night Pretoria and some parts of Johannesburg, finally got to the hotel. In fact, we practically all the time subsequently moved at night - since the daylight hours are small - and you always don’t have time to go somewhere. And in general, we were not the only ones like that, so life in South Africa continues even after sunset, the main thing is not to get into obviously criminal places and areas.
Conclusions on Sun City-entertainment for an amateur-if you have time and nothing to do, then you can roll up. But in general, you will not see anything unusual and new. You can also see animals around Johannesburg (in different game parks).
The fourth day, we decided to make it easier, to inspect the remains of what is in Johannesburg itself. Apartheid Museum, advertised zoo, Sandton Center (shopping complex). We started with the apartheid museum. Most of the expositions are dedicated to Mandela and are of no interest. The most interesting thing is at the end of the exposition - these are constantly repeated demonstrations of video clips dedicated to the main conflicts and sharp corners of South African society. The first is an old black-and-white film about the great Boer track (from apartheid times, like our similar historical ones) - where the blacks are shown in all their cruelty - and the valiant Boers crushing the villains. After viewing it, you are proud of belonging to the white race.
This museum reminded me of the Riga museum of the genocide of the Latvian people, which at one time caused me a feeling of disgust and disgust - also aimed at destroying good feelings for neighbors. By the way, photography is prohibited in the museum, but we did it. And the Negro aunt, with a voice that does not tolerate objections, forced me to give her the camera until the end of the visit (which caused us anger, spoiling the mood and causing bad thoughts about the times to which the museum was dedicated). But at the exit there was a good shop at the museum, where you could buy various souvenirs dedicated to the museum and apartheid, including an album with a photo of the museum inside, so you could not take pictures. Before the trip, I read a lot of reviews about South Africa - where people wrote about the appearance of racism in them after visiting South Africa.
On the contrary, I became an opponent of apartheid (although I did not become an adorer of other races), but I felt even more that the step taken to abolish apartheid was necessary and obligatory. White apartheid South Africans have driven themselves into a corner, pissed off blacks and coloreds. They artificially created an exclusion zone and enemies - weaning blacks and whites from normal human perception of each other. They were also lucky that they were not completely cut out, because without the support of the international community they would not have coped with the black mass (the video showed how the army and police could not cope). In general, being there, you understand, how artificial this ideology is, like communism, fascism and the like. The experience of South Africa, as a chauvinist extreme, is interesting for Russia. After all, we also have the concept of white-black (I mean not the Slavs). And the farther we go from it, the easier it will be for us and our descendants to live in Russia.
But this is a difficult path, requiring gigantic moral, financial, educational, legislative and even demographic efforts, perhaps Russia will not be able to do this. Then we will slowly come to the South African situation, where in your built country you become an outcast and an unwanted resident. White Africans apparently decided to take the easy path and got greedy, and this is the result. At the entrance to the museum there are two entrances - as samples - for whites and for non-whites. A tragicomic situation was created around them. People came in like that - white - for whites, blacks and coloreds - into the second entrance, and everyone hesitated, shy, but they went on like that (my photo confirms). Here it is the power of habit and the printed word. Although a sign hangs nearby, telling that the signs are hung only for example. After the apartheid museum, we decided to go see the zoo.
Apparently, the Turks and Arabs spoiled my overall picture of the world, where for every step on vacation you have to throw firewood on top). In general, about tips, I didn’t care where I could and most likely left them. For example, in hotels, cleaners are 10 rand, in cafes 10% of the bill, at gas stations, refuellers are also 7-10 rand, although it looks like it was a bit too much for them, judging by the surprised faces. But in reality, 10 rand = 35 rubles, a very small amount for South Africa. in fact, almost nothing to buy. It was less embarrassing to give.
The zoo was advertised as the largest in Africa and the best. But not really impressed. Of course, the enclosures are larger than ours in St. Petersburg and the animals feel better, more natural, but it is not very convenient for visitors, there are large passages to see the next animal. We were so tired of walking that we hobbled to the exit, even the child was no longer interested. On the territory there are also mini carousels.
In general, if there is a car of time, you can go kill him here. Our St. Petersburg, in my opinion, is no worse, and in some places even more interesting. And an amazing similarity is also the proximity of both zoos - St. Petersburg and Johannesburg - close to military museums. Tired, we got to the car, and I decided to take one more height - this is the so-called Joburg roof - an observation deck on a skyscraper in the city center. It was positioned as a tourist place - I scored the address in the navigator and drove off. It turned out to be the center of the city. In all the reviews I read that it is not recommended to go to the center at all. With every minute it became more and more unsettling. The streets narrowed more and more, down to single-lane traffic. High-rise buildings appeared around. There were only black faces on the streets. There was no traffic light for pedestrians - I stopped every now and then so as not to crush someone. There were no white drivers either.
But here it was not clear from whom the threat could come - since there was no parking, it was possible, I could break something, I didn’t want to communicate with the police either. In general, it was decided not to go to the observation deck, it was not worth such nerves. It was about 18-00 - apparently the working day was over. Everyone rushed to the places of accumulation of minibuses and railway stations. This is a classic rush hour, like we have in St. Petersburg. People passed through the roadway without looking at the traffic. Minibuses slowly pushed through the crowd, I followed them. As usual in such situations, there were traffic jams and traffic jams, a human wave went around the cars. In such a situation, anything could be expected from either side. I rushed into the formed passage and, without calculating the distance to the minibus on the left, hit the left mirror hard on its back (nervousness affected).
The plastic overlay of the mirror flew off, the mirror folded and became covered with small cracks (I have already considered this later). I made an instant decision not to stop for disassembly, and rushed on. But as luck would have it, there was a traffic light ahead, and there were more cars in front of it. The minibus that I hit overtook us (there was a big dent in the back, near the taillights), but no one from there said anything or stopped us. Either the driver didn’t hear in the uproar, because at that moment he also violated, collecting passengers from the 2nd row, and those, respectively, with noise, entered. Or something else. Cars were also driving behind, but this situation was not given attention. In general, in such a stressful situation, at random (since there was no time to set up the navigator), I began to slowly leave the center. Nearby, a couple of kilometers in the direction of travel on the side of the road, a downed black guy was lying around - there was no car nearby - apparently it also dumped from a dangerous area.
Slowly, having come to my senses, I tuned the navigator to Sandton City Shopping Center - where Nelson Mandela Square is. Described in guidebooks as a safe area. We decided to walk there, look at souvenirs and have a bite to eat. Indeed - parked on a crowded ogre