Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport is the gateway for much of Africa from the rest of the world. It’s the busiest airport in Africa with over 600 flights a day and many transit here to their final destinations. Joburg is a huge, bustling, and interesting city and taking some time to explore some of its attractions made sense.
We ended up adding a couple of nights in Johannesburg on a recent Botswana Safari primarily to have a buffer for our international return flight. The first time, when visiting South Africa’s Kruger Area, we spent a night at the airport but didn’t have time to see anything. This time we added two nights so we could at least enjoy a full day. We even had another half day as our return flight was the following evening.
Where to stay in Johannesburg
While the airport may be convenient for flight connections, it’s not ideal as a neighborhood to explore. We opted to stay in Melrose Arch which was a nice safe area with plenty of restaurants and shops. Sandton is another good choice as far as areas to stay.
Most tour companies pick up at the various hotels (including the airport) so in terms of tours you can arrange these quite easily. We used Good Holiday Travel who proved to be great. Our guide Pike did an excellent job and the prices were reasonable. You can pay a small supplement to make all the tours private ones.
Getting around Johannesburg
We would not recommend renting a car here as traffic is a mess, parking difficult, and crime a risk.
There is a Hop on Hop off bus tour that goes to many of Johannesburg’s attractions, but we opted for a private tour. Prices were reasonable and we got to see more with a guide. They picked us up at the hotel, took care of reservations for the attractions (some had timed tickets) and knew the regulations for parking and stopping.
You can also use Uber or taxis but again the tours seemed the best for our needs. Note that for taxis you can’t just flag one like we do in North America. You must go to a taxi stand or call for one. There are also complex hand signals for taxis. Finger pointed down refers to downtown whereas a finger up to uptown. Of course, be careful how and who you start giving a finger to!
Things to do
Cradle of Humankind & Sterkfontein Caves
If you have a full day of more, consider doing the popular Cradle of Humankind tour along with the neighboring Sterkfontein Caves where some great anthropological discoveries were made. We did this tour and while it’s about an hour and a half out of town, it’s a great exhibit and the limestone caves were impressive to see and may be 20-million years old. Our guide gave us a chance to crawl along some of the smaller tunnels in the cave to really get the caving experience.
The museum exhibits show some of the discoveries of our early ancestors. The displays of skulls and depictions of what our early ancestors may have looked like was interesting. There were also many exhibits that really made you think.
Soweto & Mandala House
A ride through Soweto is also a nice experience and can be easily combined with the Cradle of Humankind and Sterkfontein Caves in a full day tour. Be sure to visit Nelson Mandela’s early family home.
This township was also at the center of the demonstrations and protests by black students when the government wanted to make Afrikaans the language of instruction instead of English in Soweto’s high schools. Many students died (the youngest was only 12) at the hands of law enforcement during the uprising of June 16, 1976.
The colorful Soweto Towers are an unmissable landmark in the aera. They have been repainted but are still nice to see. Those brave enough can try bungee jumping off the middle of the old coal power plant cooling stacks.
Johannesburg City Tour
If you only have a day in Johannesburg, you’ll probably want to do a city tour that includes the local city attractions.
Johannesburg is an enormous city with many districts and suburbs and a population of more than 6 million. Sadly there is also over 30% unemployment and a lot of crime and poverty. It should be expected, as in most large cities, that there are some desperate people and dangerous neighborhoods.
When driving by a city overlook that seemed innocent enough our driver cautioned us against going out of the car due to high crime and a history of people waiting in the bushes for unsuspecting tourists! He said he’d only let us out if police were present.
That said, our impression was not one of beggars or hoodlums, rather we saw many people doing their best to sell whatever they could get their hands on to make a living. This ranged from drinks and fruits at stoplights to carvings and tourist goods near the popular attractions.
Newtown
As part of our city tour we saw the city’s oldest neighborhood, ironically called Newtown. Decrepit abandoned buildings had been hijacked and rented out to the poor or illegals. Loose wires ran across shacks indicating stolen electricity. A lot of poverty.
Our driver showed us the government free housing but also told us that the average wait for a spot was 30 years! He also praised Mandela for putting education and poverty aid as key focuses for the government.
Constitution Hill
We also visited Constitution Hill. This is the site of a nightmarish prison that was operational into the early 80s and housed many famous activists including Mandela and Gandhi as prisoners.
Shockingly we can see how terribly different the black prison population was treated in comparison to the colored and white. A terrible reminder of how cruel people can be to one another.
Lesser-known attractions
Our guide, with some calls and sweet talking also got us in to see the Mandela Foundation Museum and the old Mandela home which is now a hotel. He even took us into a gold mine museum inside a bank tower, something that was discovered when digging the office tower foundations. Things we would not likely have managed to discover on our own.
Other activities to consider
Not on our agenda due to a lack of time but something we would consider on a subsequent visit were a tour of a diamond mine and the Apartheid Museum. You can even do day trips into Kruger National Park for a safari.
Conclusion
If you have a stopover in Johannesburg don’t just hang out at the airport like we did on our first visit. Look for a tour. You’ll find these are reasonably priced and they will pick you up and drop you off right at your hotel. We were glad to pass the time getting to know a bit more about this huge and important city.