Advice and things to know about Johannesburg

Playing with the cubs in the Lion Park

Want to know a bit more about Jo'burg and it's people? Well here's some stuff I found out while I was there. The video is choc-full of info and tips if you plan to visit, so give it a watch.

Johannesburg facts:

• Population: 750,000 + 
• Currency: South African Rand (ZAR), which is equivelent to 0.056 GBP
• Official languages: 11 including English, Afrikaans and Zulu
• Johannesbug is named after two founding officials named Johann Friedrich Bernard and Christiaan Johannes Joubert. However this is widely contested as there were many officials involved with founding the city who had names including Johann/Johannes
• As with the rest of South Africa, Johannesburg was under apartheid until 1994. To put that in perspective, man landed on the moon in in 1969, 25 years prior!

Johannesburg tips: 

Go on a group safari, much better than going it alone

• Do a group safari in Kruger National Park, you'll meet some great people (I know I did) and having more sets of eyes will pay off - our guide spotted less than a third of the animals we did. 
• Group safaris also allow you to share pictures and photos if you create a shared DropBox, GDrive, etc
• You can book to go to a Lion Park with a day's notice, so if your safari is rainy (as mine was), you can still see the big cats and even play with them, which is worth it in itself
• Don't be afraid - although the homes are quite intimidating with their high walls, barbed wire, etc it's not too bad. That doesn't mean you should be wrekless though!
• Take public transport, I took the Gautrain and it was brilliant, plus they have special carriages for people going to the airport. The Gautrain busses are also great. For both you'll need to pick up a Gold Card at the station which works much like any other transport charge card
• When booking a lion park, do your research. I heard a lot of horror stories about places that raise lions for 'canned hunting, especially in other African countries