Compact Travels - Exploring Places Like Never Before...

The first week of March was a very anxious moment for me as I was scheduled to leave on 8th March for my first ever trip to the African continent as well as my first ever trip to the Southern Hemisphere. I was looking forward to this trip very eagerly and I had gone thru' the itinerary time and again to visualize the exotic places I would visit. Prior to my trip I had got some very extreme feedback about South Africa - the positive one being that Cape town is one of the most gorgeous cities of the world and the negative one which I am sure you too might have heard is about Johannesburg being a city with probably the highest crime rate in the world.Seeing is believing and so I boarded my flight SA 227 in the wee hours of Monday morning and arrived at Johannesburg around 0715 hrs on Monday, 8th March 2004. I was looking forward to meeting the other FUNDIS on arrival.

Most of my readers know me as a teacher or a journalist but this was yet another dimension which made it possible for me to go on this exciting 12 days trip to South Africa. I was a qualified FUNDI or Expert as I had successfully completed the SA tourism programme. To know more about FUNDIS , readers can visit the website www.southafrica.net

On arrival at Johannesburg airport, in matter of few minutes I cleared Immigration and customs and I was met by Francois of Spurwing tours who would handle the rest of our arrangements at Johannesburg. I was glad to see that out of the 12 FUNDIS in our group, there were 5 from India - a petite lady from Bangalore and on the other end an extremely large gentleman from Delhi, not forgetting another Delhi-ite and from "amchi Maharashtra" a fit and lean Pune-ite. So besides the BIG FIVE (five Indians ) and I'll let you know about the other BIG FIVE in my subsequent articles, we had an Irish cum Englishman and now an American travel agent , a Kiwi from a company in U.S, a South African from Australia, a Dutch from Netherlands, an Australian from Australia and two Nigerians from Nigeria which formed part of the "FUNDI DOZEN".

As not all of them were arriving at the same time, I along with the first group of FUNDIS was driven straight to our hotel where we would spend the next 3 days - the Crowne Plaza hotel at Sandton. Sandton is one of the more upmarket districts of Johannesburg. The hotel property was well laid out and each one of us checked into our respective rooms and later in the evening some of us who were excited to explore the city and check our e-mails took a 5 minute walk close by to Village Walk where besides visiting a cyber café, we savoured on some of the finest Italian cuisine. Village Walk is a very happening place comprising of shops, boutiques and speciality restaurants in close proximity from the Crowne Plaza Hotel and is the ideal place to spend your evenings.

As we were still recovering from our jet lag, late at night we planned to have an adventurous meal at South Africa's Red Meat and Red Wine Capital - The Butcher Shop & Grill situated on Sandton Square. A sure "no no" for vegetarians and even for kids under 14.

We were contemplating of going either to a Greek Restaurant or the Butcher's Shop and since the majority of us were in for a bit of adventure, we all landed up at the Butcher's Shop where they serve some of the finest wines along with a wide range of meat and fish, which would include Game, Crocodile, Mozambique prawns, Oyster and anything you would like to eat if you are a carnivore.

The more adventurous colleagues of mine ordered Crocodile, Baked Game Dish whereas I took the safer option of ordering Mozambique prawns. I was recommended by our exuberant steward to order the main dish though I personally preferred to order the starter dish not just to save on price but also given my appetite. However, I was served the main dish which had some of the largest prawns that I probably might have seen and that too twelve of them. With great difficulty I managed to have half the dish and at that moment I pledged to only stick to starter dishes for the remainder of my trip. It is amazing to note that the Africans eat huge quantities and still they are not as huge as you might imagine (barring a few exceptions). It was an invigorating experience and I would recommend meat lovers to visit the Butcher's Shop.

In fact in the in-flight magazine of South African Airways, there was a very interesting advertisement which read as " SOUTH AFRICAN 3 ICONS….. Table Mountain, Kruger National Park and Butcher Shop & Grill at Sandton Square." I was glad to have visited one of the three ICONS of SOUTH AFRICA!. Meat lovers to know more about The Butcher's Shop can log on to www.thebutchershop.co.za The following morning we were ready after a sumptuous breakfast for a tour of the Cradle of Humankind - the Sterkfontein and the Wonder Caves.

Before I take you into the caves, let me share some interesting information with you about Joburg or Jozi or Egoli or the City of Gold. Well all these names are various names given to the city of Johannesburg, the commercial capital of South Africa located in the Gauteng province. Jo'burg is undoubtedly the economic and industrial powerhouse of sub-Saharian Africa.

The city has many exciting places to explore such as Soweto - a city within a city, the Newton Cultural Precinct - home to theatre, jazz, clubs and restaurants, the Gold Reef City and before I proceed any further let me tell you that Jo'burg is like any other big city in the world - a New York, a London or a Mumbai. Unlike what you hear of it being extremely dangerous, it's like any big city which has a great influx of immigrants from neighbouring countries, it is bound to have some crime but that is normally confined to certain downtown areas and only those who try to venture alone in the dark can expect some trouble. Otherwise, it is a very exciting city and one can easily spend 2 to 3 days in Johannesburg as there are lots of exciting activities for the tourists. As for the Sandton area, it is extremely safe and mostly it is the impressions created by media about the city being unsafe. Johannesburg is one of the fascinating cities as it is located on a high-lying plateau of over 1500 m above sea level known as the Highveld regions and is a must visit city for people who want to see South Africa.

Some of the exciting places to explore in and around Johannesburg are very interesting and I simply wonder why most Indian tourists who visit South Africa do not spend more time in Jo'burg and simply rush off to Sun City - Some of the exciting must see places within Jo'burg are Soweto, the Apartheid Museum and the Gold Reef City. In 1886, gold was discovered on the dusty, desolate plains of the Witwatersrand and the city mushroomed around the site as the word spread of its potential and settlers flocked in search of a lucky fortune. That gave rise to Joburg which today is a thriving metropolis comprising of elaborate office parks and towering buildings, elite residential suburbs and bustling shopping malls, restaurants and entertainment venues. Whether it's a Jew, a Czech, a Greek, an Indian, an Italian, a Zulu , a Nigerian or an American, you find all human species in the city of Gold. To start with let me tell you about the place where it all started - the Cradle of Humankind.

The Cradle of Humankind is a world heritage site. In 1947, it is here that Robert Broom discovered the skull which made us believe who we are and where we came from. Mrs Ples was discovered here, Mrs Ples is a hominid - a term used to refer to humans and our ancestors i.e. primates. Mrs Ples is the skull of a human and to get a feeling of exploration it is worth walking into the Sterkfontein Caves which is still being developed as one of the key attractions of the future. It was fascinating to walk into these caves which are still being explored in order to trace some of our ancestors. To get in and out of the caves requires you to climb a lot of steep steps and narrow curves as well as give you the opportunity to bend your back - an ideal trip for those seeking adventure. The Cradle is about an hour's drive from Johannesburg and has lots of other attractions around it such as small game sanctuaries, lodges and wellness centres.

The Cradle of Humankind was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999 and comprises of an area of 48000 hectares and is a site which has yielded some of the most valuable evidence of the origins of modern humans. Besides the Sterkfontein Caves, the other site which is open to public is known as the Wonder Caves.

Dr Robert Broom discovered the perfect parts of a skull on April 18,1947 at Sterkfontein Caves. The skull, which came to be known as Mrs Ples, derived from Plesianthropus - meaning almost human - was described at the time as "the most perfect pre-human skull ever found".

In 1978 a foot embedded in breccia was discovered at the Sterkfontein Caves. The foot, believed to be that of a monkey, was kept in a box until 1994 when it was discovered that it was from a hominid. Little Foot, believed to be between 3,2 and 3,5 million years old, was then announced to the world. Unlike the Sterkfontein Caves, you enter the Wonder Caves by lift and here you find some of the most amazing lime and dolomite formation. The caves are supposed to be as old as 2200 million years and some of the formation are as high as 15 metres suspended in some simply amazing shapes. In these caves you find cave pearls, rimstone pools, stalactites, stalagmites, etc. and we were taken for an exciting tour where the most striking of all formations was in the shape of Mother Mary which has been formed naturally over a couple of million years back.

The same evening we visited Moyos - a restaurant which serves typical African cuisine. Though we were scheduled to go to Moyos at Melrose Arch, the place was full and we went to Moyos in the downtown area and on our way we had a glimpse of the downtown region which looked altogether a different city and is connected to the other end of Jo'burg through the Nelson Mandela Bridge.

Moyos is one restaurant which offers an all-African Dining experience where you can have cuisine from different parts of Africa and to make you feel that you too are a part of Africa till you await your meal you could get your face painted just as some of us did and it was a most memorable evening for all of us. After a sumptuous meal we returned back to our Hotel and we were looking forward to Wednesday as there were lots of exciting things lined up for us including visiting Soweto, Gold Reef City and to see the longest running musical performance in South Africa, Richard Loring's African Footprint.