Johannesburg is South Africa's largest and most commercial city. Yet, we were bound for Pilanesberg and an African safari.
Our overnight billet was the Emperor's Palace casino.
Johannesburg is not considered a safe place to allow tourists, from an organised tour, to roam about and the casino has a high electrified boundary fence and a gate with armed guards.
Notwithstanding, Wendy and I got an Uber to a local shopping mall, where else? I bought the shoes I'm wearing today and Wendy bought some big socks for her son, Heath. In between, we saw some of the city's industrial outskirts and a couple of residential areas. It didn't seem too scary.
The hotel was actually quite nice, if in need of a bit of maintenance: I repaired the flush in one of our (two) loos.
The casino - well what can one say? The gambling hall had an awful lot of poker machines and a few tables for other gamblers. We walked through unscathed several times (no guns). Yet, something strange was going on upstairs that required armed guards who turned us away, rather threateningly, when we followed the signs back to our hotel. We were not about to argue.
I photographed David's back for fans of 'Cunk on Earth':
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This may seem a bit strange unless you are familiar with the British mockumentary series, staring Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, an ill-informed investigative reporter who interviews real experts in their field asking naïve and, sometimes insightful, questions while delivering bizarre observations about human progress with a deadpan delivery.
It's very funny - at least, I find it so. (It's on Netflix - if you are in OZ Click here...) |
Notice the desk at which you need to hand in your guns before entry to the gaming area. South Africa must be one of the few countries in which it is possible for civilians to 'swan about' openly carrying a side arm in a holster.
Our guide said the licencing laws are very strict. They must be - I didn't see a single black person carrying a gun.
On the coach journey, on our way to go on safari at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, we passed numerous settlements - some relatively established.
A number were distinguished by very high flood light towers - in lieu of street lights. Many of these were glaring down, in the middle of the day. We guessed that the time-clocks had been disrupted by the frequent electricity blackouts, that now occur, for hours on end, throughout the country.
It's well known that South Africa has an electrical energy shortage. They have new wind farms but no where near enough to replace 'old coal'.
As a result, the power often fails during what is euphemistically called 'load-shedding'. Typically around two hours at a time. But in Stellenbosch it was 4 hours one evening.
All the hotels we have stayed in have large diesel generators, that switch in after a few seconds, and the ones at the Ivory Tree Game Lodge run more frequently (as much as half the time). There are a couple of these large, and very noisy, diesel generators that cut-in when the grid fails but these don't always restore electrical services like Wi-Fi, upon which we now depend for everything, it seems.
As I wrote at he time: "These ones are very noisy and one is on now, yet the power and internet are not on in our cabin - presumably to save fuel. They must use a lot and are not at all green. Australia beware."
The Pilanesberg Game Reserve, next door, didn't disappoint. We had early morning and sunset safaris each day, for three days, during which we saw most of Africa's big game and several small ones too. The photos that follow are just a sample.
A big Lion seemed to like or suspect Wendy. He looked directly at her.
The car with the other half of our party had a similar experience with a group of elephants that made their way between the cars. We saw lots of elephants but only at a greater distance.
The lions were so frequent; so unafraid; and so disinterested; that they almost became boring. I was tempted to reach out and pet one. Probably not a good idea.
After quite sufficient safaris it was time to fly to Zambia to visit Victoria Falls.