Greetings from Johannesburg aka Jo’burg aka largest land locked city in the world,

Since we last chatted in Washington Dulles airport, have been busy enjoying the hospitality on South African Airways and making weak efforts to sleep on the 17 hour trip from Washington Dulles to Johannesburg.  The plane made a stop over in Dakar, Senegal and the minute we landed I was just thrilled to be back in Africa. If you’re just tuning in, I’ll be in South Africa for the next two weeks as a guest of South African Tourism and so far this is looking to be a most egregious trip…

Spent the majority of the night chatting with Teri, Ryan & Nate. who will be joining me on this excursion. The plane ride was quite nice and it included three meals which helped break up the long trip. Also enjoyed the fact that South African Airways had countless movie, TV show and music options to help pass the time.  We arrived in Jo’burg at roughly 5:30pm and now it’s 10:30pm and yours truly is incredibly stuffed from a most magnificent meal in Nelson Mandela Square(top photo) at Lekgotla which means “meeting place”, more on that later.

I’m staying at the Intercontinental Johannesburg Sandton Towers and all I can say is WOW. The concept behind this hotel is different than any other I’ve had the distinct privilege of residing in. The entire middle of the building is open and the view from the 22nd floor below is incredible. The room has everything you’d ever want including a most dignified office like setup where I’m writing this now. Let’s not get into the water pressure because that is neither here nor there but know this, it’s industrial strength.

Sandton is the most exclusive area in Johannesburg and the most expensive bit of real estate in continental Africa. The Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square shopping centers are also the largest shopping district in the continent. It’s by no means the center of Jo’burg but a suburb that attracts a high end clientele and many foreign companies have offices in the area.

We had dinner at Lekgotla and it was a real culinary treat. We ordered a wide mix of appetizers including but not limited to crocodile carpaccio, calamari, dips and a mini braai consisting of chicken, lamb and beef on hot coals. The calamari was great and served with a peanut sauce, we made several repeat orders. Personally, the crocodile carpaccio was my favorite, highly recommended. To continue my intense seafood binge from the Corn Islands decided to have some grilled Mozambique prawns, also recommended.

Considering the trip to Johannesburg from Fort Lauderdale took roughly 25 hours and naturally, I didn’t sleep on the plane I am ready to make the most of the bed pictured in this update. Tomorrow is a surprise as always but the plan is most egregious and rest is of top priority at this time. I’d like to once again thank South African Tourism for their incredible hospitality thus far and very much looking forward to the rest of this trip.

If you’re on twitter tune into #VisitSouthAfrica and say hello.

Tips hat,

P.S: Met the gentleman who runs Kwalata Wilderness at the gate, seems most interesting.

P.P.S: Please remember, you’ll never know unless you go…