Adventures of NaDave: H'moon 12

It was an early morning to catch our flight to Johanesburg, and since we had bought a bottle wine to go with our Rum, we had to check a bag. Instead of placing the bottles inside our bigger bags, we tried to wrap everything safely in our smaller day bag (what we were thinking?). Well after needing to specially check this bag through an inspection…we got on the plane only to have someone board the plane carrying out dripping wet bag. The wine bottle had broke on the way to the plane. Oh boy, what a mess. We exited the plane, Dave removed the soaked clothes around the bag, placed the soaked bag into a plastic bag, and walked back on the plane with it. We certainly bummed…again we did not perfect plan checking items on planes, but the trip must go on!

But we arrived on time around Noon, sent a few postcards in the airport post-office, got a SIM card for GPS(!), and got to our rental car swiftly. Nadine was again behind the wheel on the other side of the road. But we made quick time on the America-like highways, and got to our first destination, Cradle of Humankind.

We arrived to a quiet, dusty parking lot. We walked up and paid for our mid-afternoon tour and since we had an extra 10-15 minutes, we walked into the small museum. It was very interactive and updated with photos, timelines, and everything to learn about the evolution of the earth and how homo-erectus came to be (and it was in English!). This place is famous for the first discovery by the white-man of human remains. We got halfway through the museum, and it was time for the tour. We grabbed our hard hats and headed on a short walk for the Sterkfontein Caves. These caves are just below the surface, and filled with beautiful limestone formations. We were the only ones on this tour, so we had the guide to ourselves to ask all the questions we wanted, but then also enjoy the silence too. We then came upon a spot with jailbars across. This was where the first remains of Little Foot? were found, wow! They predict he must have fallen through an opening at the surface and died alone. The walk continued with stories of European explorers using dynamite to mine the caves minerals, and how they may have easily destroyed other other artifacts from the first humans. The tour ended above ground, at another excavation site. Here is where other famous remains were found. The guide left us here to look around and read the numerous signs with explanations.

We snapped a few photos and looked out over the vast landscape imaging past humans trying to survive in this world. It seemed so adventurable to us, but it must have seemed so dangerous 300,000 years ago. We walked back and finished up the museum. We wanted to read every last word, but needed to stay on schedule.

Our next stop was back into Jo’burg, and specifically to Soweto. On the drive there, we hit a solid rainstorm and gave us an idea about the afternoon storms in Joburg. We left the farms and cattle, and began to re-enter the city. And quickly saw the struggles for Joburg, communtiies of shacks would immediately transition into nice, walled-off neighborhoods. And also, the streets would become dangerous as the foot-traffic next would greatly increase along the 60-80 km road. In fact, at cross-streets their were pseudo 4-way stops with giant red signs reading “high accident area, watch for people”. We made it through each one, but it was certainly stressful.

As we neared Soweto on the South-West side of the city, the iconic cooling towers came into view. This was our first stop, so we drive to them as a beacon. As we navigated closer, we drove directly through the streets of suburban living and saw how people lived. Dave quickly hopped out for a few photos, and then off we went.

Our next stop was headed into the city to see Mandela Bridge, the city skyline, and the famed Ellis Park Rugby stadium. We got stuck in a bit of traffic, but that helped us look around the city center. We drove to Ellis Park and quick hopped out for a few photos. Here is where the SA Rugby team famously won the Rubgy world cup back in 1993 right after the apartheid ended. From here we drove to our AirBNB called ?, in ?.

It was a great spot with a gated entry to park our car. The owners told us about an evening Wednesday market, so after washing our day bag from all the wine (!), we headed there first. The rain started again so we scampered inside, and the vibe was amazing. Little beautiques, small snacks, beers while you shop, live music, it was perfect. Nadine found an awesome shirt and Dave got a quirky shirt that looked like he was wearing a tie. From there we headed to the highly recommended Lucky Bean restaurant along an awesome, small street of local shops. We each had local drinks and local meals…Nadine some seafood…and Dave a meat sausage bobotie (bobo-tea, not bo-bo-tea). We ended the night with a stroll, walking past bars with drunk happy people.

Cradle of Mankind Museum