"JOHANNESBURG" a Johannesburg Travel Page by Martman

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To rank cities by size is not always easy as criteria differ e.g. where the exact city borders are etc. By most definitions, JOHANNESBURG is considered the largest South African city. It is definitely the country's center for industry and commerce and quite possibly for the entire African continent as well. It is also considered the largest city in the world that is not by the sea, a major lake or major river. Johannesburg is also considered the third largest city in the African continent, after Cairo and Alexandria.

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This picture depicts part of the city center. Many new buildings have been erected, since this picture was taken. The building in the bottom left corner, is the old stock exchange. The new stock exchange is in the Johannesburg subarb of Sandton.

Ironically, the city center is larger than it looks. The downtown is at the bottom of a steep hill. (The built up areas on the steep hill are known as Braamfontein and Hillbrow.) This hilly area is so built up with office buildings (Braamfontein) and apartments(Hillbrow); that they actually block the view of the city's buildings. Paradoxically, the extra buildings make the city look smaller! In Braamfontein or Hillbrow, you are right next to the city, yet only one or two buildings are visible. You need to know just the correct place to go, such as the bridge on the North West corner, when suddenly the vast number of buildings appear. Many of those buildings are empty though, as businesses have moved to Sandton which is considered the city's new center, in the Northern suburbs. I heard that even the Stock Exchange is now in Sandton. I also heard that there has been revival to the city center. Despite that, there is apparently not much downtown of interest to tourists anyway.

It is worth mentioning that the buildings of the downtown, Braamfontein and Hillbrow in addition to the new Sandton, make Johannesburg comparable with any large USA city. The city is an industrial giant with both an abundance of first world wealth and third world poverty.

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As large as the city is, it is not considered the centre of tourism. This does not mean that there is nothing for the tourist to do. It just means that other cities have even more! In fact, most international flights to South Africa are to Johannesburg. When you are there anyway, you may as well see the city. Just allow for more time in your schedule for seeing other cities.

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view of Johannesburg

View of the city centre

Johannesburg is my city of birth. I was not there long though.
At the age of six, my family moved to Cape Town. This means that when I lived in Joburg (as locals call it) I was too young to know it. I never knew what a city or country was, let alone which city I was in! I do have an amusing story -> through the eyes of a six year old. In those first six years, I visited the city Durban twice. When we moved to Cape Town, I thought Cape Town and Durban were the same place. Why? I saw this giant swimming pool, so big that we cannot see the other side. With this huge pool, it must be the same place. In my mind there were two places in the world. Either there is a giant pool or there is not one. (Soon enough, I discovered what the sea is!)

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