"Jumping Around Johannesburg! " a Johannesburg Travel Page by jumpingnorman

I had a great "guide and driver" who showed me around Joahannesburg. He brought me to one of the tallest towers (if not the tallest) in Johannesburg where you can have a magnificent view of the city.

There was a mall under this tower and from what I could see, I noted that a lot of the buildings in the city needed urgent repair, new paint. I could still see the people waiting for the buses from this viepoint, and the mountains looked great in the distance.

What I noticed as I was being driven around residential areas were the nice- looking houses with high perimeter walls topped by electric wires. This reminded me so much of my childhood home in the Philippines where our house was surrounded by high walls (like a fortress) and during that time, we had broken glass cemented on the top of walls to discourage burglars.

I did look at some diamonds, but ended up buying a Tanzanite instead for my wife because I liked this blue-hued gem whose intensity grows under the sun. I bought it at Jewel Africa who got me free taxi transfer to my hotel after my purchase.

Where's the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, buffallo)?

Pilanesberg park is only two hours from Johannesburg, and I had my guide drive me around the huge reserve for about fours hours (starting at noontime). But all I saw were deers, birds and a few wild pigs...I guess the big animals were still asleep...I went at the wrong time of day!

However, despite my experience, the Pilanesberg Game Reserve is considered one of the most ambitious programmes of its kind to be undertaken anywhere in the world with over 10,000 animals. And I have seen lots of great safari pictures from fellow VT members.

But, not to worry, I went to Cape Town the next day and saw some elephants finally...