The journey begins!

So I had an excellent flight from Vienna via Dubai to Johannesburg, which was operated by Air Emirates. At the airport I was picked up by a person from the Ghandi Backpackers hostel ... the place I stayed during my visit here in Johannesburg ... it's a really nice and familar hostel and I met already a lot of European people there.

Heinz, the owner of the hostel is also very friendly and helpful. He comes from Switzerland and lives already 12 years in Johannesburg. So he gave me a lot of information about Johannesburg ... were to go ... and of course much more important, where I should not to go ;-) ... so the most dangerous part in Johannesburg is the city center ... he told me, if I want to go there, I should let my camera in the bag, otherwise it was my camera ... so that's the reason, why I have only a few pictures from Johannesburg ;-) ... anyway, it's just another big city! In comparision to the city center, the suburbs are really save ... however, you cannot be sure ... crime can happen everywhere and everytime on the street ... so when I went out on the street, I always had some kind of mixed feelings ;-) ... and of course all house have alarm systems, electronic fences and *Armed Response* ;-) ... so please do not try to break in or make a stupid request!!

South Africa is also a very rich and interesting country, because they have a lot of natural resources like gold, diamonds, platinum and coal. In the 20th century the white people from Europe came and laid claim to their natural resources and separate the people into *black*, *couloured* and *white* groups ... the beginning of the Arpartheid in South Africa. So I decided to take a deeper insight on this topic and visited Soweto, a district in Johannesburg where the black people are banished and have to live. The gap between poor and rich people is very big in Johannesburg and even in Soweto. Here you see on the one side people who are living in slums and on the other side you can also see a lot of normal houses in this area.

Soweto had a major role in the years of the Arpartheid and a lot of demonstrations and protests started here. However, the most important thing about Soweto is for today, that Nelson Mandela lived here before he was imprisoned.

The house is located on Vilakazi Street which is very famous, because there is also the house of Desmond Tutu. So this is the only street in the world, where two peace nobel prize winner lived on the same road, just a few houses away from each other. Afterwards, I visited the Hector Pieterson Museum and the Arpartheid Museum, which are also very interesting.

... and jep, the following song is very popular in South Africa ;-)

And finally ... for all soccer-fans ... I made a short stop at the Soccer-City Station on my way back to the hostel ;-)

So, that's it from Johannesburg and tomorrow I will start a four-day safari to Kruger National Park and afterwards I will go to Mozambique!!!