Joburg and Nelson Mandela's house

Nelson Mandela's house in JoBurg

Johannesburg, Sandton in the distance

Oct 1

Today Rene and Federico went for an overnight to kruger park to see the big 5. Thorsten and I did a day tour to a cultural village northwest of the city. On the way Dorothy our tour guide took us through Joburg and it wasn't what I pictured. It was more green and woodsy than I thought. Dorothy drove through some neighborhoods and showed us Nelson Mandela's house. He's 93 now and still very much beloved by the people of south africa. It was his birthday earlier this week and you could see some pebbles that the children had put in front of his house as well wishes.

Dorothy told us the interesting history of south africa as we drove to Lesedi village. The white settlers came to south africa in the 14th century. First it was the dutch, then the english, then other europeans. This country is know for its great wine and supposedly it was a combo of cultures that brought it together. The dutch came and planted grapes, the germans came and taught how to make barrels and the french came and made the wine. The language of the Afrikans is a mixture of dutch, french and other europeans languages.

Gold was discovered in the 19th century and Joburg became a huge city overnight. Because of a hugh meteor that hit this area many years ago the gold is buried pretty deep in the ground and not very easy to mine.

It's not a huge country but it has so many different climates and geographical differences. Where we are is savanah, then you have the desert in the northwest, the tropical forest in the east and southeast, and coastal in the south. I really regret not having enough time to explore more.