Impressions from Johannesburg
While it has been over two months since I returned from my trek through Africa, I am eager to share my thoughts and reactions from this important experience before they have faded even further from my memory.
Over parts of January, February, and March of this year (8 weeks in total), I lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg while working for a consumer products client of the Monitor Group. Unlike my experience in Riyadh, which was defined both by international travel and treks to parts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rarely seen by foreigners, my experience in Johannesburg was largely spent in the northern suburbs of that city, mirroring the lives of most of my South African colleagues. During those eight weeks I did escape for a weekend safari in Madikwe Game Reserve, and for a relaxing exploration of Cape Town, but even these were not uncommon destinations for locals.
While short, my experience in South Africa left me with several important and lasting impressions of the country:
Living the Good life in the Northern Suburbs
One of the striking elements of my day-to-day life in Johannesburg was its high quality. While it certainly didn’t hurt that I was there during the South African summer, escaping London’s dismal rain and chill, the quality of life went beyond good weather.
Diverse restaurants and lively night spots abound in what is described as the most “first world” of cities on the “dark continent.” While it is true that persistently high crime rates require most restaurants to be located in fortified centers, complete with fences and parking lot guards, the most popular are focused inward on well-decorated and lushly planted courtyards.
The threat of crime kept me on my toes while I was living there, but didn’t result in any real significant impact on my ability to enjoy life as I normally would. In fact, it was the car culture of living in the suburbs which caused the greatest concern. The need to drive everywhere, and the fact that people lived in apartments scattered all over the northern suburbs, led to many more risky situations of driving home after a few drinks than I was really comfortable with. This problem, however, is really no different than you experience in the suburbs of the US.
Beauty and Diversity of the Country
In my brief weekend adventures outside of Johannesburg, and in the planning I did for potential future trips, I came to appreciate the immense diversity and beauty of South Africa. Prior to arriving there, I had assumed that in order to go on safari I would need to take a trip to the middle of the continent - someplace like Kenya or Tanzania. The opposite was true.
South Africa in fact is a land of myriad environments. Its offerings range from tacky and exuberant gambling centers (Sun City) to sunny beaches and natural beauty (Cape Town) to metropolitan and suburban (Johannesburg). It contains desserts, lush mountains, grassy plains, and forests.
South Africa’s national parks, from the famous and massive Kruger to smaller private game reserves and the vast rural landscape of the middle of the country, host incredible populations of wildlife. When visiting Madikwe Game Reserve near the border with Botswana we encountered nearly every variety of native African wildlife we could have hoped for. The only creatures missing in our weekend safari were a Buffalo and a Leopard. From conversations with others who had traveled more of the country, our experience was not entirely unusual.
Unfortunately, in addition to wildlife and landscapes, South Africa’s diversity also includes a range of impressive wealth and devastating poverty.
Apartheid Museum and Race
One sleepy afternoon I took a trip south of the city to visit the country’s lasting testament to its dark past: the Apartheid Museum. The two hours I had to spend there were not nearly sufficient.
The museum starts by educating the visitor on the history of South Africa, and the long road to Apartheid. It explains the country’s initial inhabitation by the British, the conflicts of the Boers, and the discovery of gold in Johannesburg. It documents the injustices that were enforced through the system of apartheid, which echo elements of the Nazi persecution of the Jews and US oppression of African Americans and the Japanese in World War II. It goes on to explain the roots of organized opposition, the rise of Nelson Mandela, and the importance of the ANC political party.
The sad reality is that understanding many elements of Apartheid is possible without ever visiting the museum: its traces are etched in the racial divides of the city. Soweto (South West Township) was one of many ghettos into which Africans were forced to live after they were ejected from their homes in the center of the city. Even many years since the collapse of the apartheid system, this and many other townships remain densely populated with blacks who continue to live an impoverished and difficult life there. The Northern suburbs also remain much as they were during apartheid: enclaves of wealthy Caucasian life.
Concerns About the Future
Perhaps the most enduring memories from my experience in Johannesburg were related to the challenging questions raised about the country’s future. In the first two weeks that I was in Joburg, the city (and whole country) experienced a series of devastating blackouts, eventually causing the weeklong closure of the world’s largest gold mines, and causing the price of gold to skyrocket. As a professional, I became suddenly and painfully aware of my reliance on both a computer and communications technology to accomplish even the most slightly productive tasks. Several-hour-long blackouts wrought havock on our work schedule, despite the fact that we were unusually well protected because most of our work is done on laptops which bought us a couple hours of productivity before they too died.
Colleagues, clients, and newspapers were harshly critical of the government in failing to adequately maintain the electrical system. They blaimed the government of taking for granted the high quality of infrastructure that had been put in place under the Apartheid governments, and not investing in upgrades or its continued upkeep. These critiques mushroomed into speculation about what other elements of basic infrastructure might be next to collapse: water? sanitation? transportation?
While I was pleasantly surprised by the country I had encountered, few people who had been there longer had similar sentiments. They described growing crime and increased “white flight” to other English-speaking countries, in particular Australia. I only hope the comments were alarmist. South Africa and its people have an immense amount of cultural and natural wealth to share with the world.
- Welcome to The Intrepid Mr. Fox
Welcome to the personal weblog of Mitchell W. Fox, a management strategy consultant in Sydney, Australia.The Intrepid Mr. Fox is about my personal life and adventures. It focuses on three main topics: The Good Life (things I enjoy in my leisure time), Travel, and my thoughts and ideas about the world around us.