The South African Sojourn - Day 4: Touristy South Africa!

Day 4 in Johannesburg was a day we had earmarked for experiencing a bit of the African wild. After looking at our schedule we had come to the conclusion that there was nowhere enough time to visit Kruger or even take a proper tour to the Pilanesberg reserve.

If we wanted to experience African Wildlife it would have to be the tour to Lion Park which promises sighting of a whole host of African Lions and other wildlife. We booked our Tour through the hotel front desk and decided to go with one operated by Vhupo tours. There was an option to take the Lion Park Tour with the Soweto tour - a big draw for the American and European tourists - Soweto is one of the poor, townships of South Africa, but as we were from the land of Slumdog millionaire we decided to stick to the Lions.

Vhupo tours picked us up from our hotel lobby at 8.00 sharp and we were taken around Johannesburg picking up various people on the way to the Vhupo hub from where we would embark on the various tours that Vhupo offers. The ride gave us the opportunity for taking in a little bit more of the celebration that is the Fifa World Cup.

The streets were all decked up - Vuvuzelas and Soccer Balls were everywhere - on all the street corners and even on the highways. It was also great fun talking to the people who were on the bus with us going to the Vhupo pick up point. We met a couple of Scotsmen overjoyed at Robert Green's mistake in letting in the US equaliser and proclaiming him as the Scottish national hero! We also met an Argentinian couple who were pretty pleased at the good start made by the Albiceleste!

Our guide was also quite informed and gave us a brief history of Jo'burgs development and how it became the premiere business centre of Africa despite being far away from the sea and not being near any river. Johannesburg - the capital of Gauteng (meaning place of Gold) is the city of Gold! It was the place where Gold was discovered in South Africa and extensive mining activity took place. The mining companies came to Jo'Burg and provided jobs to hundreds of people from all over and the city was born. The remnants of these mines were all around Johannesburg. They were in the shape of yellow mounds of earth and were present all around Johannesburg.

We got off at the Vhupo meeting point at the entrance of Soweto and found that we would be receiving an exclusive tour of Lion Park as we were the only people who had opted for the tour on the day. The lion park is a sanctuary where African wildlife is kept within enclosed boundaries. The highlights were the lions of course, but the park also had Cheetahs, Ostriches, Giraffes and Zebras as the other highlights. We went to Lion Park on a Monday which was just after the feeding day for the Lions. The beasts are fed one day in a week and we could see lions fighting over the remnants of their feast from the previous day. In the Lion park one is not allowed to get out of the jeep. Quite an important protocol as we were literally in handshaking distance of some of the lions at the park.

The tour finished with a visit to the place where we could alight and actually hold Lion cubs and play with them for ten minutes. A huge photo opportunity but you need to be careful as some of the cubs had a very bad temper and even sharper claws. One unfortunate visitor had lion cub scratches to show as South African souvenirs. The lion park was quite an experience. Not as good as seeing Lions live in the jungle, but if you do not have the time and definitely want to see the African lion up close then a definite "must do" day trip. The trip to the Lion Park ended after feeding the Ostrich and Giraffe at the park, and we returned happy and hungry to Sandton City where we asked Vhupo tours to drop us off.

We reached Sandton city in late afternoon and we immediately had lunch at one of South Africa's most famous fast food chains. Steers Burgers is a home grown South African chain with over 400 branches across SA. It has also expanded to other parts of the continent.

The burgers go by the tag line flame grilled and are very tasty. What struck me as different from the regular version we are served up at McDonalds in India was the size, the Steers burger was much larger. The quality of the meat - it was much softer and felt that it was cooked as against fried. There was also a lot of juice in the meat and the ketchup which is a must for the McDonalds burger in India was not required. Overall a fantastic, filling quick meal and easily one of the more popular options at the Sandton City food court.
The rest of the afternoon was made shopping both of the window and the real variety as we explored the mall and all the shops. The shop that really stood out was "Out of Africa" which had some really nice South African souveniers. One item which was really cool and we wanted to buy but could not as were sure it would break in our luggage on the way to India were the lamps that were made of Ostrich eggs. Really cool and available both in plain white and in painted varieties. Exhausted and completely satisfied we retired early to our hotel, but not before we had sampled yet another of South Africa's trademark foods. For an early dinner we sampled from Katie's Kitchen the famed Boerwor. Boerwor in Afrikaaner means farmers sausage, "Boer" = Farmer, "Wor" = Sausage. The great part of the preparation is that the same is served right from the Barbeque or South African grill. Hot, tasty and a delightfully light dinner.

We fell asleep quite early. There was a big day ahead of us. We had the Johannesburg city tour ahead of us the next day and of course the small matter of seeing the Selecao! Live! Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano!