Johannesburg Monday 22/12/25
Well today was without doubt one of the great days of travel I’ve ever experienced.
Most of it came down to our tour operator Thomas combined with some of the most spectacular images that I’ve committed to memory forever.
Thomas has lived in Soweto all his life and was an encyclopaedia of history, stories and knowledge that flowed seamlessly for four and a half hours.
He took us firstly through I guess what you would call a gated area where the upper echelon of Jo-Burg live.
Endless high walls which are topped with either razor wire but mostly electric fencing to deter criminals. Literally every house in these tree lined Camberwell-looking suburbs had the same protection, blocking out any view of the houses contained within.
Thomas then took us to Constitution Hill, a former hard core prison that took the lives of over two thousand men between 1902 to 1983.
The worst of it started with the commencement of apartheid and the government needing more room for prisoners. They were squeezed into this hell hole and many died from sheer deprivation. Typhoid was rife and in many cases madness took over having been thrown into isolation cells.
The descriptions of the horrors that were delivered by the excellent guide often made your skin crawl and were on par, perhaps even more terrible than those acts committed on Sarah Island in Tassie.
Ghandi and Mandela both spent time there as political prisoners. They never crossed paths of course because of their ages however Ghandi’s teachings were an enormous influence on Mandela’s leadership.
Attached to the prison is the stunning Constitutional Court which I think is the highest court in SA. There’s room for eleven judges and eleven assistants where the cases and the points of law are discussed without the accused being there. Each case is televised twice a week and the public is free to attend.
Then it was off on what for me was an unforgettable drive for the next two hours.
Thomas took us through a heap of streets in what looked like a dusty and very busy part of the city. There was high rise like your everyday city but the buildings were mission brown, there was rubbish and rubble everywhere and the atmosphere was barely controlled chaos.
I thought we were in Soweto but he quickly corrected me. This was Jo-Burg in full flight. Not a white person in sight and we didn’t know where to look.
He then took us to Soweto which is approximately twenty minutes from Jo-Burg.
We saw donkeys, hundreds of goats loose, blokes dragging giant bags of recycling up the highway, blokes standing in the middle of two lane main roads selling anything they could get their hands on, blokes just pissing anywhere in public, and people either selling stuff on the street or in tiny tuck shops in all sizes and shapes, all with the tiniest opening to exchange money and goods.
I’m an ordinary camera man but I decided to take some photos when we stopped. If it was a shop or a human I asked permission and offered some money where I thought it would help. Soweto is a photographer’s dream.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stop in most places because of the inherent danger. The final destination within Soweto was the extremely volatile and notorious Kliptown.
Thomas drove calmly and slowly whilst regaling us with his wisdom and humour while all around us was extreme poverty and locals checking out the two pasty Aussies in the back of the van.
Kliptown is how I imagined Soweto. Shanty tin dwellings with barely enough room to swing a cat. Thousands of them joined up like a gigantic conglomeration of cracked Leggo pieces.
Thomas pointed out that there is one tap shared between twenty houses and the government now has porta-loos situated in the village that are emptied twice a week.
Thomas used whistles and hand signals as he negotiated the narrow streets and the masses of people. Thomas had some funny stories. He knows the comedian Trevor Noah who is originally from Kliptown and has made it big in the US.
He’s also hosted many sports people such as Kobe Bryant and celebrities but his most famous was Mandela when he finally got released from Robben Island.
He had a tourist in the van when suddenly he spotted a friend’s brother-in-law who happened to be walking down the road with Mandela acting as his security.
Thomas pulled over and called out to his friend and both he and Mandela came over to the van to be greeted with a tourist who was now freaking out fumbling to get a photo.
I guess we were voyeurs to a certain extent today and I discussed this with Thomas who assured me that in many parts of Soweto he takes clients into the villages to gain a broader experience.
There are literally no safety nets in South Africa. Health, welfare, aged care, disability pensions, super etc are non-existent. The only free consultation with a doctor is at a hospital and good luck waiting to be seen.
It’s terribly cliché to say it puts everything into perspective but anytime you visit a country and witness third world poverty it does have a visceral effect. You wouldn’t be human otherwise.
We see such divisiveness and anger in our country. Everyone has to have a say and just ‘piles on’ without any logical thought. We are the lucky country and its places like Johannesburg that remind us that maybe things aren’t so bad after all. We have been gifted a great opportunity growing up in Australia, so how about we collectively take a deep breath, be grateful for what we have and stop fucking whinging!
The people of Jo-Burg have been incredible. They are seriously resilient, always smiling and are a delight to chat to. It has been an absolute privilege to be here.
If you do decide to visit, we highly recommend The Southern Sun Hotel in Sandton. Awesome service and food.
To do the tour we did, the company is Drifters and ask for Thomas. Off to Kruger tomorrow.
