A few days in Johannesburg

Johannesburg is probably the most diverse city in the world. It’s layers of tribes, colonists, other colonists, immigrants and slaves all wrapped up together and living on a 12-million person chunk of savannah.

I haven’t seen too much of it yet because of the difficulty of getting around in taxis and so forth, but what I’ve seen and heard has been fascinating. I’m staying in the “hip” neighborhood on the outskirts of the central city - a pseudo-suburb of sorts - but on a quiet street in a quaint guesthouse called Pension iDube.

So far, I’ve been to downtown Melville, a strip of boutiques, cafes, bars and restaurants,  more than a few times. Yesterday I spent some time at a colonial-era country club wining and dining with South Africa’s small cadre of environmental journalists, and this morning I went to probably the slickest mall in all of Africa in the northern suburbs of the city.

Finally, I spent all afternoon in the somber halls of the Apartheid musem, witnessing in photos and video the horrific regime that existed until well into the 1990s.

I’m sure none of what I’ve seen so far is representative of the city or the country as a whole, but I’m learning that really no one person or place will tell the full story of Johannesburg.

It’s truly the most diverse city on the planet.