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Location Date South Africa 
1397516400 Lesotho 1397430000 Swaziland 1396306800 -
Location Date Heilbron 1397516400 Soweto
1397516400 Fouriesburg 1397430000 Bethlehem 1397430000 Colesburg 1397343600 Aliwal North 1397343600 Lady Grey 1397343600 Laingsburg 1397257200 Beaufort West 1397257200 Cape Town 1397170800 Scarborough 1397084400 Sea Point 1397084400 L?agulhas 1396998000 Swartklip 1396998000 Muizenberg 1396998000 Swellendam 1396911600 Struisbaai 1396911600 Addo 1396825200 Summerstrand 1396825200 Oudtshoorn 1396825200 Uitenhage 1396738800 Grahamstown 1396652400 Port Elizabeth 1396652400 Kokstad 1396566000 Matatiele 1396566000 Elliot 1396566000 Dordrecht 1396566000 Queenstown 1396566000 Ixopo 1396479600 Ballito 1396393200 Pietermaritzburg 1396393200 Mkuze 1396306800 Nqulwane 1396306800 Eshowe 1396306800 Barberton 1396220400 Nelspruit 1396051200 Graskop 1396051200 Phalaborwa 1395964800 Seekoeigat 1395878400 Johannesburg 1395705600
Soweto-Johannesburg
(running behind a bit 22/4 from New Zealand)
2014-04-15
When you travel in Australia, the further north you travel the warmer (generally speaking) it becomes. Southern Africa, being on about the same latitude as Australia would be the same case. Johannesburg was fairly cool when we arrived so we gathered that travelling south would bring us into colder regions. Wrong. Cape Town was warm to hot. The reason is that Cape Town is build along the ocean which keeps the temperature fairly warm but moreover the difference is the altitude. Last night, while in Bethlehem it was cold at an altitude of 1750 meters. Johannesburg is not much lower at 1600 meters. Today's journey north, from Bethlehem to Johannesburg we travelled all day at around 1700 to 1800 meters.
We headed for Soweto, the area of Johannesburg everyone knows about. This is where the uprising started and were Nelson Mandela placed his stamp. The so-called "shanty town" is still there, however most of the corrugated metal shacks have been replaced with small to intermediate houses. It is still classed at a “down” area due to the high unemployment and the state of the streets and roads with stuff lying around everywhere. The GPS got totally confused as it seems that roads are made at random. Any literature about the area recommends to do a guided tour and not to venture out on your own, but we did. The downside was that we could not locate the house of Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu.
We entered Johannesburg from a different angle and I was glad we did. Opinions about places are quickly formed and are not always correct if you don’t give things a fair chance. People may enter Brisbane, Sydney, Paris or Amsterdam from a certain side and may get a totally wrong feeling about the place. (Try entering London from the north for instance)
The city does not look as bright and crisp as Cape town, which is due to the fact that most building are made out of a brown sandstone or brickwork. Today we were in the business district which looked nice and fairly clean, it could have passed for a European city with the only difference being that when we looked around we were the only white people amongst hundreds of native Africans.
Whilst goings around the country side we often come across begging persons. They tell us that they are hungry which I don’t doubt they are. Last week we bought a case of apples; whenever we were approached we handed out a few apples and recipients were always happy with them. (we also handed them out road workers at the Stop/Go signs- also always appreciative)
Today I had to laugh as I saw a picture displayed at a coffee shop of a modern 2014 style beggar with a credit card reader haha as if !
Meanwhile we have completed our journey; Frank is home again and I am in New Zealand for a week. To come is one more page on South Africa to sum up what I thought of the country and how I saw it. Purposely I used the word “I” Just as I would tell it if someone would ask me “What do think of South Africa?” My usual answer would be: “That is a very honest question; I take it that you would like an equally honest answer…Watch this space.
(running behind a bit 22/4 from New Zealand)
2014-04-15
When you travel in Australia, the further north you travel the warmer (generally speaking) it becomes. Southern Africa, being on about the same latitude as Australia would be the same case. Johannesburg was fairly cool when we arrived so we gathered that travelling south would bring us into colder regions. Wrong. Cape Town was warm to hot. The reason is that Cape Town is build along the ocean which keeps the temperature fairly warm but moreover the difference is the altitude. Last night, while in Bethlehem it was cold at an altitude of 1750 meters. Johannesburg is not much lower at 1600 meters. Today's journey north, from Bethlehem to Johannesburg we travelled all day at around 1700 to 1800 meters.
We headed for Soweto, the area of Johannesburg everyone knows about. This is where the uprising started and were Nelson Mandela placed his stamp. The so-called "shanty town" is still there, however most of the corrugated metal shacks have been replaced with small to intermediate houses. It is still classed at a “down” area due to the high unemployment and the state of the streets and roads with stuff lying around everywhere. The GPS got totally confused as it seems that roads are made at random. Any literature about the area recommends to do a guided tour and not to venture out on your own, but we did. The downside was that we could not locate the house of Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu.
We entered Johannesburg from a different angle and I was glad we did. Opinions about places are quickly formed and are not always correct if you don’t give things a fair chance. People may enter Brisbane, Sydney, Paris or Amsterdam from a certain side and may get a totally wrong feeling about the place. (Try entering London from the north for instance)
The city does not look as bright and crisp as Cape town, which is due to the fact that most building are made out of a brown sandstone or brickwork. Today we were in the business district which looked nice and fairly clean, it could have passed for a European city with the only difference being that when we looked around we were the only white people amongst hundreds of native Africans.
Whilst goings around the country side we often come across begging persons. They tell us that they are hungry which I don’t doubt they are. Last week we bought a case of apples; whenever we were approached we handed out a few apples and recipients were always happy with them. (we also handed them out road workers at the Stop/Go signs- also always appreciative)
Today I had to laugh as I saw a picture displayed at a coffee shop of a modern 2014 style beggar with a credit card reader haha as if !
Meanwhile we have completed our journey; Frank is home again and I am in New Zealand for a week. To come is one more page on South Africa to sum up what I thought of the country and how I saw it. Purposely I used the word “I” Just as I would tell it if someone would ask me “What do think of South Africa?” My usual answer would be: “That is a very honest question; I take it that you would like an equally honest answer…Watch this space.
- comments
Rob According to the Late Bob Marley, BMW is the acronym for 'Black Man's Wheels', and so his followers are dedicated to this brand of cars. Back in the seventies he drove a 2002 series, this 5 series car (E30?) sure is a classic! and made in SA. In SA, BMW also built the 'Glas' brand cars in the late sixties, rebranded as Beamers.
Rob Altitude vs temperature in a standard atmosfere shows as a decrease of 1,98 degrees C. per 1000 ft.. So being at 1800mtr (=5905ft.) 5.905/1.98= 2.98 degrees Celcius drop, apart from the wind change at altitude and its relative humidity that also bring about a different sensation to how you experience 'warmth'.
Rob Correction, I was too quick here, it is of course 'times' instead 'divided by', so 5.905 * 1.98 = 11.69 degr. C. drop, that being under ISA conditions, so as said, humidity and the the origin of the wind prevailing at that altitude/height will influence this outcome.