Tuesday

Mark and I decided to have a day out while we were here. We had a look round the shopping centre across from the hotel. It is in Sandton Square and has a hotel above the shopping centre.

Xmas trees are popular here in South Africa, but a bit early!

then were picked up at 11am by Rossen, our taxi driver for the day. He wanted 150 rand per hour, so we decided to use his local knowledge for a day out.

First we went to Bruma market shown below.

where we bought some souvenirs to take home.

After that we drove through Kensington on our way to downtown Johannesburg which used to be the business centre.

Saw the de Beer building which looks just like a diamond.

On the way to Soweto it was easy to see the change from rich to poor.

Then we headed off to Soweto to see Nelson Mandela's house. We were shown round by a young girl who told us about the history of the house.

Inside the house are many pictures, awards and souvenirs given to Nelson Mandela by many different people and institutions.

After looking around the house, Mark sat on the back step of the house chatting with our guide.

Mark and Rossen, our Bulgarian taxi driver standing opposite Nelson’s house.

When we were finished there we drove off towards the lion park.

On the way we looked at a place called Montecasino which is a casino and shopping centre. It has been built in a typical Italian style.

We went to a lion park about 20 miles from the centre of Johannesburg where we saw many different animals.

There were

zebra, lions,

hyenas,

ostriches, giraffes, warthogs and many more.

After the drive through the lion and hyena enclosures we went to the part where you could get out of the car. Here there were some smaller animals.

One of the keepers was playing with young tiger and leopard cubs.

We saw some white lions and then were allowed into one of the animal enclosures.

I was able to go in a lion cub cage and stroke one of the little cats.

Saw a warthog with its babies. At this point the camera was full so the pictures ended.

Drove back towards the airport and stopped for a meal at a restaurant called Dros. The food and the service were excellent as usual.