[mpksuhas]

Johannesburg day 2 .. Ctd


From here we head to Satyagra house.

Satyagra house

This was the house of Mahatma Gandhi when he lived in Johannesburg.

The house now shares land along with a hotel, the place was renovated by the hotel owners and the museum is run by them.





I haven't seen signature of Gandhi in other languages apart from English & Hindi till now.




News paper clippings from that time



Views about automobiles were interesting. How things would have been some 120 years back is something we may not be able to imagine.




First floor of the house



Farewell from South Africa

[mpksuhas]

Return journey

Our return flight was in Etihad airways.

Johannesburg airport is fairly large one with lot many flights to European destinations.



While we were waiting, in the next gates these beauties arrive. If only Concorde was also in service

(Click for gif to play)



Our flight a B787



How important is Indian market to middle eastern airlines? On Johannesburg - Abu Dhabi, subtitles are in Arabic & Hindi.



Via UAE is a longer route to India compared to the Ethiopian route we took for onward journey.



We reach Abu Dhabi while its getting dark



A short 1.5 hour transit and we are off to Bangalore.

The newly opened T2 at Bangalore airport unfortunately didn't have any free aerobridge when we arrived, causing us to wait in the aircraft for some 25 minutes. Not a pleasant experience when its 02.30 AM and have to attend office the next day.

However, the best looking A350 in the world was next to us

Next trip, hopefully in this.

[mpksuhas]

Epilogue - Car rentals

This is a hotly debated topic online. Based on checking with those who booked earlier, online reviews, TripAdvisor suggestions etc, I can safely say that all rentals are equally bad or good in South Africa. So based on suggestions from TBHP, I went for Avis for both Cape Town and Johannesburg rentals, with the hope that if anything was to go wrong, atleast the grievance addressal would be better than the rest.

Thankfully, my rental experience was fairly okay. Fairly, I say since for Johannesburg, I had filled up fuel from the bunk some 600 meters from rental drop off and made sure the person collecting the car made the entry of fuel too. However, when bill was generated (this happens some 3 days later) I had additional billing for 2 liters of fuel + handling charge for the same. This adds up to around Rs 700 or so. However, more than the price, I felt the way the scam is operated is what annoys me.

However, apart from this - Refund of blocked credit card amount, toll amount calculation etc. was done on time without any issues.


For both the cities, I had pre-booked (however, without payment made) VW Polo Vivo. While I got the same model at Cape Town, at Johannesburg I was mentioned that vehicle was not available and asked to accept Renault Triber instead. When I mentioned that I was looking for a hatch, I was given a free upgrade to a Polo TSI

That was a beautiful car, with only around 8K KMS on odo. Made the highway drive a pleasant experience.

Most of the Kruger drives were done in Brother In Laws car, he had rented from the same Avis a Toyota Corolla Cross. However, for the small parts where I took Polo on dirt tracks in Kruger, it did perform well. Overall, there is no need to worry about ground clearance or 4*4 capacity while in Kruger. The dirt tracks also are fairly flat. Its just that, if you have a higher seated vehicle, you will be able to get a slightly longer view inside the grass land and also the undulations on dirt track will be less jarring as your tyre width will be larger on account of higher / bigger vehicle.

On question on if AT is required or MT will do, its a matter of choice. Based on the price difference, I would be happy to take an MT and go as I did. Its not that you are driving on half clutch all day, one just need to drive slow, for which in MT you need to slot in a lower gear.

Our Kruger drive





For Kruger, we had rented from Johannesburg airport Avis. Location



Cape Town rental

Location

Since we took the rental few days after reaching here, we had opted for Avis branch inside the town instead of the airport one. Experience here was good. The car - VW Polo Vivo, was again fairly new - with just around 19k KMS on the ODO. However, its clutch was worn out and made my life difficult each time I had to park since the parking lot at our Airbnb was on a slope.

Finally I had to give it in and start slipping the clutch. The burnt clutch smell inside closed garage was enough to spoil my mood. But that aside, the vehicle was good condition, especially the tires. I had checked the same before delivery based on some reviews of bald tyres online. Especially since it was raining on and off, wanted to make sure it was fine.




License - I had a valid IDP, but just the Indian license + passport was enough for them.

Booking - Pre booking was done online, remember to book through global site of Avis (unlimited mileage) against if you book though South African Avis site, where KM's are capped.

[mpksuhas]

Epilogue .ctd.

Safety

There is a genuine safety concern while you visit certain localities in South Africa. Broadly, Cape Town is safer than Johannesburg, however it depends on if you are in 'safe localities' or not. You can check out the unsafe localities online for both the cities. However, even if you are staying in a safe localities, its not advisable to roam around in the night or flash valuables.

Some of the safety instructions given by our Airbnb hosts were generic in nature, something we in India also are aware of. As in, when in crowded places, be careful of your phone etc. But there is considerable violent crime in South Africa, hence one need to be aware of the same.

Also, there is a huge issue of financial inequality combined with joblessness and homelessness in the cities. Due to which car break-in and similar crimes are very rampant.


Mobile

South Africa has two major operators MTN & Vodacom. Of this, relatively, MTN is cheaper and has a better coverage. We took a one month validity SIM of MTN from their airport counter. Along with this, we had taken roaming pack from Airtel. We noticed that Airtel was mostly connecting on MTN network only, however, there was considerable throttling of data speed for Airtel.
Overall, network speeds in South Africa, we found was slow. With MTN SIM in 4G we were getting around 4 / 5 Mbps only in Cape Town at city center. Even the Airbnb wired broadband was having only ~ 15 mbps speed.

Water

Though we were using packaged drinking water, tap water at Cape Town and Johannesburg is supposed to be safe for consumption. Though, you would have read about water scarcity in Cape Town, we didn't face it since this was soon after end of rainy season.

Yellow Fever vaccination

South Africa is not a Yellow fever endemic country. Hence its not required to take yellow fever vaccination to visit South Africa. However, do note that many of the neighboring countries are under that list, hence if you have a transit through those countries which has you spending more than 12 hours there, you will have to produce vaccination on arrival at South Africa.


Malaria

Certain sections of Kruger are considered to be Malaria prone. However, south side is not part of that and also this is a bigger issue in rainy season.


Credit card / Cash

You can manage with card at most of the locations, if not all. Hence carrying cash around is not required. Though, we withdrew around 3000 South African Rand as backup from the airport ATM.
This was mostly unused till end of the trip, forcing us to use it instead of card at ticketing counters and supermarkets to finish off the cash.

Also, some of the ticketing locations (Ex Cape point) are card only and hence don't accept cash.

Cash will be required for tipping though at fuel bunks (5 or 10 Rand).
Tipping is also customary in restaurants with the average amount being 10% of the bill.



Driving

Driving is much hassle free than India, if you are having double thoughts, don't.
One point to keep in mind is that non South African credit cards are not accepted at toll booths, hence you should carry cash for that or like we did, pay using toll tag which came with the rental car.

[mpksuhas]

Epilogue ctd


Helpful threads on TBHP related to South Africa
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...th-africa.html (Splendid South Africa)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...hotologue.html (The Kruger National Park, South Africa - Photologue)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...th-africa.html (A week in paradise: Kruger National Park, South Africa)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...scorpio-n.html (Mahindra Futurescape Experience Drive | To Cape Town, South Africa in the XUV7OO and Scorpio-N)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ape-drive.html (South Africa Landscape Drive)

[mpksuhas]

Indian cars in South Africa

In light weight commercial vehicles, we did spot few Tata mini trucks. As per my friend who is settled in Johannesburg, Tata doesn't sell cars anymore in South Africa and is concentrated only on commercial vehicles. However, we did spot some old Indica's on the road.


Mahindra does have good market share in semi urban areas it looks like, especially around Kruger area we did spot lot many Mahindra vehicles.

Interestingly, while around Cape Town, the Mahindra vehicles we spotted were mostly XUV 5oo's




Around Kruger area and Johannesburg area it was mostly ScorpioN and Bolero variants. XUV7oo's though present were very less in count.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[adetour]

Simply wow. Was waiting for this Tlog from you, didn't know it would come in one shot

The Ethiopian Airways issue onwards must have been a frustrating experience.

How was food and the cuisine in South Africa?

[zinbart]

An excellent travelogue. SA is among the most beautiful country in the world but safety is what concerns me, otherwise I would love to travel there once in my lifetime.

[AutoGalaxy]

Very nicely written travelogue @mpksuhas. I somehow always came across not-so-good news about South Africa, hence my general outlook was negative ( mainly from traveling there with family, let alone driving! ). The media plays a good trick on us!

Thank you for all the details, it was an eye-opener. A new place got added to an already long wishlist

[Garth]

Wonderful travelogue. South Africa is a wonderful country having a bit of everything. They call it Africa's world class city and it actually is.

I stayed in Jo'Burg for 2-3 years about 15-16 years ago. I am sure much would have changed by now. The crime scene certainly hasn't. Driving there is a pleasure and not tiring at all.

Thanks to the OP for rekindling all the memories.

[rb003]

Glad you enjoyed it! I must say that Cape Town isn't a city that loses any of its lustre whether you're here for a week or years. Great pics and enjoyed reading about your perspective.

[Kkumar]

A well written travelogue with beautiful photos. It was a pleasure reading the article which I did in one go. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

[rst89]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Epilogue .ctd.

Safety

There is a genuine safety concern while you visit certain localities in South Africa. Broadly, Cape Town is safer than Johannesburg, however it depends on if you are in 'safe localities' or not. You can check out the unsafe localities online for both the cities. However, even if you are staying in a safe localities, its not advisable to roam around in the night or flash valuables.

Some of the safety instructions given by our Airbnb hosts were generic in nature, something we in India also are aware of. As in, when in crowded places, be careful of your phone etc. But there is considerable violent crime in South Africa, hence one need to be aware of the same.

Also, there is a huge issue of financial inequality combined with joblessness and homelessness in the cities. Due to which car break-in and similar crimes are very rampant.

Thanks for this thread, I did see your name on the Trip advisor forum as I was researching for South Africa e-visa. I have applied it with 1.5 month left for my trip, hope to get it. Seems they are pretty slow.

What troubles me of South Africa is you get less time to explore places given night time is not safe. So it's like time to roam is 0600h to 1800h given some time is lost in morning and lunch. Also how was load shedding over there? Given you went in winter, I am assuming there was none or else it would have made it here.

Also I have reserved only 3.5 days for Cape Town which now seems less as I wanted 4 days to explore nearby areas and may be touch garden route. I am staying like 7-8 days in South Africa.

I too have heard about these car rental scams from reddit, 700₹ is less headache than to waste efforts dealing with them but lack of integrity is alarming. I will search for a local trustable rental agency. And do you think a sedan as a rental will be better choice around Cape Town given car thefts are rampant or that lid cover in hatch backs is enough.

Also why tip at fuel bunks? And has the restaurant tipping culture from US caught in this part of world?

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by adetour

Simply wow. Was waiting for this Tlog from you, didn't know it would come in one shot

The Ethiopian Airways issue onwards must have been a frustrating experience.

How was food and the cuisine in South Africa?

Thanks.
Yes, been occupied with few other things, hence lot many travelogues are pending. Thought to start last one first.
Ethiopian airlines issue, yes. If it was any other transit location, would not have been worried. May have as well taken the visa on arrival and roamed around the city. However, here with the yellow fever guidelines, was worried.

Food overall is not a concern. Especially in Cape Town, you have wide variety of restaurants, so one can try different cuisines. But else too, there are items in menu which look / sound Indian / Asian, thanks to Malaysian and Indian origin population. However, taste of those dishes obviously will be slightly different from what you will be used to elsewhere.

One unique item we tried was 'Bunny Chow' - which is hollowed out loaf of bread filled with meat curry. It tastes as any bread + curry will taste like, just that the presentation was interesting along with the history of that dish.

Originally Posted by zinbart

An excellent travelogue. SA is among the most beautiful country in the world but safety is what concerns me, otherwise I would love to travel there once in my lifetime.

Originally Posted by AutoGalaxy

Very nicely written travelogue @mpksuhas. I somehow always came across not-so-good news about South Africa, hence my general outlook was negative ( mainly from traveling there with family, let alone driving! ). The media plays a good trick on us!

Thank you for all the details, it was an eye-opener. A new place got added to an already long wishlist

Originally Posted by Garth

I am sure much would have changed by now. The crime scene certainly hasn't. Driving there is a pleasure and not tiring at all.

Thanks. Yes, there is a safety concern, no two ways about it. Just that, one has to be careful about the localities you stay at.
Driving there is an easy and pleasant experience.

Originally Posted by rb003

Glad you enjoyed it! I must say that Cape Town isn't a city that loses any of its lustre whether you're here for a week or years. Great pics and enjoyed reading about your perspective.

Originally Posted by Kkumar

A well written travelogue with beautiful photos. It was a pleasure reading the article which I did in one go. Thank you for sharing and keep on munching miles.

Thanks. Yes, Cape town is a beautiful city. Just that the weather keeps changing each hour dramatically.

Originally Posted by rst89

Thanks for this thread, I did see your name on the Trip advisor forum as I was researching for South Africa e-visa. I have applied it with 1.5 month left for my trip, hope to get it. Seems they are pretty slow.

What troubles me of South Africa is you get less time to explore places given night time is not safe. So it's like time to roam is 0600h to 1800h given some time is lost in morning and lunch. Also how was load shedding over there? Given you went in winter, I am assuming there was none or else it would have made it here.

Also I have reserved only 3.5 days for Cape Town which now seems less as I wanted 4 days to explore nearby areas and may be touch garden route. I am staying like 7-8 days in South Africa.

I too have heard about these car rental scams from reddit, 700₹ is less headache than to waste efforts dealing with them but lack of integrity is alarming. I will search for a local trustable rental agency. And do you think a sedan as a rental will be better choice around Cape Town given car thefts are rampant or that lid cover in hatch backs is enough.

Also why tip at fuel bunks? And has the restaurant tipping culture from US caught in this part of world?

1. Visa - Yes, its bit strange and annoying. But no escape on that as of now, as you would have noticed, I was also checking multiple times on TripAdvisior on the same. One thing I noticed is that, you get visa either by 1 month or you don't. There was a mention that they had to close the entries by 1 months, so either they approve or reject that by then. How long is it for you now that you have applied?

2. Yes, the time you have is curtailed. Also with erratic weather in Cape Town doesn't help as such. Also, no load shedding currently.

3. Regarding rental, yes, there is total lack of accountability on that front. Bit surprising how some of the things are working perfectly (good roads, toll collection etc) while other is so messed up ( security, inequality) etc.
Back to car rental, do check out 'rent a cheapie' too. Along with Woodford, they were the reliable agency that I found. However, rent a cheapie did has few negative reviews about refund, which I guess was mostly due to customer having debit card instead of credit card. However, I decided against them to be on safer side.

Sedan rental will be safer as you mentioned, however if your plan is just around Cape Town, then I would suggest you think of only taking Uber and not renting car. This will work out to be cheaper and less hassle prone.

We opted for VW Polo, since it would be bit easier in city traffic + parking. However, its not that congested as one hear online, hence sedans will also be just fine.

4. With 7/8 days, it may be difficult to have a relaxed Cape Town + Garden route. However, in that case, 3 days is good cut off for Cape Town. Do pre-book for Table mountain and Robben Island to save on time.

5. Tips, yes. Not just at bunk, at parking spaces, which are free too, people will come over and help you out and then ask for tips. This is mostly a reflection of how the economic situation is there at South Africa. Restaurants, yes, its smilar to how its in US.