"South Africa - One week, first visit " a South Africa Travel Page by Charri

I never thought I would have the fortune to visit South Africa and especially not be able to see what I did of this incredible country in such a short time. If you only have a few days - it is amazing what you can cram into your visit! I did not give much thought to what I could see and do apart from thinking "lions, springboks and nelson mandela ;-)". I arrived on Madiba's birthday which was a pretty good to day to see South Africa for the first time. The sky was so clear and the light reminded me of NZ. I was surprised by the topography of J'Burg i don't know why but in my mind's eye I thought it would be flat. Parts of it reminded me of Perth perhaps it was the combination of sky and the dry landscape.
Collecting my bags from the carousel at the Airport was like waking up - on the arrivals and departure board were all these places I had only read but seeing the boarding times for places like Gaborone and Nairobi was for me someone who never thought they would get past Egypt was mind boggling.
it's hard to describe but it was like I'd suddenly discovered another planet. I guess it's because as I keep saying I never really thought I would get to visit this part of the world.
Driving through the outskirts of J'burg I saw a little white van just like Mma Ramotswe's and that did it for me. Its' naieve I know but when I saw those white vans I thought uh oh this is going to be a pretty special place. It was one of those moments when you are travelling and you get a click like hey this is where I feel right. Weird but there you go somethings you can't put into writing they are more of a feeling than a thought.

The first thing I would say to someone planning to visit J'Burg and the surrounding area is - be organised. I missed out on going to some amazing places because I didn't read up beforehand. This is not unsual as I normally figure what turns up on the day makes the day but in this case it only led to disappointment :-(.