Five years ago, I embarked on a 105-day journey traipsing across Africa and Asia and Australia. It was a trip of a lifetime, in length, complexity and limited grandeur of which particular combination I won't ever enjoy again. That trip was meticulously documented here. That trip diary started by accident, with me having to wait for a table at some fancy V&A Waterfront restaurant being too tired to try anything else. I sat at the bar, and pulled out a shitty old Samsung Netbook, a computer that does not exist today, and barely worked in its existence in 2013. South Africa itself was an 'accidental' destination, having switched to it about a month before that trip began, feeling a bit too nervous around the commotion and risks of Egypt - my initial initial destination.
Five years later, I'm combining them both. Finally going to Egypt, and planning to go to Cape Town for a third time a second time (after an aborted trip last year that ended with me in tears at the JFK Airport counter). Five years ago, that trip started with one of my favorite ever flight experience, a 14hour 30minute haul to Johannesburg, on South African Airway's A340-600, as beautiful a plane as has ever been created. I had two seats to myself (many had three). It was amazing, not only because it was the inception of that trip. Five years later, I took that flight again, and that's where this trip diary will start.
Let's get a few things out of the way, the flight was better the first time. Firstly, this was a full flight and I didn't have two seats to myself. Secondly, when I took it last, their touch screen and 50+ movie options seemed novel. Through my later long-haul flights on that trip, and many more in the years to come, this has become standard, and while SAA still had the touch screens and the movie choices, it has been matched nad passed by most. That said, the plane is still beautiful, the food was really good, with a nice braised beef main with rice and beans, and all the normal stuff (bread, crackers, butter, jam, cheese, etc.). Even the breakfast was better than most airline breakfasts, and they had a selection of admittedly average sandwhiches available for self serve all flight.
It might not have been the somewhat magical experience the last flight was, but it wasn't too different. Certainly, I've had my fair share of 14+ hour flights since then (at that point, I had taken two, JFK-Abu Dhabi and JFK-Seoul), and SAA is quite good. It's a strange flight timing wise, where it takes of at 11am in New York, and lands at 8am the next morning, but they create a weird atmosphere requiring everyone close their window shades 30min into the flight, creating a night-time atmosphere for a good eleven hours.
I landed in Johannesburg with about 10 hours to play with before my flight out that night to Dubai (which would lead to a shorter flight to Cairo, where my trip will really start). I spent about 1.5 days in Jo-burg in Jan. 2016, so as I had seen a few things, I definitely missed on some key sights. I looked out for a Soweto tour, but they either started too early or ended too late. Instead, I went to the Lion & Safari Park, which is a good 45-min from the airport, but had flexible timings. While it isn't a replacement for Kruger (or any non-South African safari's) it was a fairly wonderful time.
We were driven around in a well caged open van, with enough holes in the cages to get nice photos when needed. The guide was jovial, and overall it was a nice 100 minute journey. They start off with a bang, with a group of Wildebeests, Zebras and a solitary beautiful Giraffe around a tree. That was a pure appetizer for the carnivores to come. The tour included stops where we saw various hyena, leopards, wild dogs, cheetahs, and of course lions. While they hvae thees other animals, the park is really about the Lions, and there are a ton of them. Our tour coincided with feeding time, so about three or four vans and myriad cars got in a circle, the lions walking around and between them to the middle of the circle, where the feeder came and tossed out pieces of meat. There were regal male lions, ferocious females, and adorable cubs. It was a whole family affair.
The park is not a replacement for a safari, but I can't think of a non-safari type location when you can be in a situation where lions are roaming freely next to your car. Literally right up to it. All the animals do, but most of hte other carnivores were living their best life and sleeping during the day. The lions though were alive and about and hungry and made it all worthwhile.
From the lion park, I took an uber back towards main Johannesburg to Rockets in Bryanston for lunch. Rockets was a really well maintained multi-level club/restaurant that is more restaurant during the day, but very obviously more club at night. I was there squarely during the day, and their calamari and pork belly were nice, if a little too mainstream and not African enough for me. That all said, the real African meals are being saved for Cape Town, not for my impromptu walk through JoBurg.
After lunch, I went to the Mabenong district and artsy "hipster" downtown neighborhood that has seen tremendous investment and growth to where it is fairly safe (during the day, at least). There were tons of small crafts and arts stores, great coffeeshops (to which your tired writer patronized), and a few food stalls that I mostly looked and at tasted in a light sense. It was a great finish to my limited time in JoBurg, as I had to head back to the airport to check-in around 5:30pm for the 7:10 flight to Dubai.
The flight to Dubai, like most Emirates flights to anywhere, was on an A380-800. The flight had some good aspects that Emirates is always good for - more recline than you normally get on an economy seat, great movie selection, but also some of the negative aspects I've seen on Emirates - parimiarly the painfully slow food service. I've had this on every Emirates flight I've taken. On 7-9 hour sectors like this one and my New York - Milan experience it wasn't as bad, but for a 7:45 flight, it took a good 2hours for them to serve and clear dinner and put the cabin lights off. Truly unacceptable, regardless how many passengers were on the flight. I did finally get to sleep though, with the background noise of the old Marvel movies - watching the original Iron Man was a hoot, given the sprawling phenomenon Marvel is now. It was a nice way to end the transit portion of hte trip before Cairo anoints the trip proper tomorrow.
