Category: Africa

Day 109 – Mall Life

Posted in 365 Project, Africa, Architecture, JohannesburgLeave a comment

In the past, a big portion of social life in Johannesburg has revolved around shopping malls. The security issue in South Africa has made it difficult to create a ‘street culture’ worth mentioning. Thus it has been such a pleasure to see how there has been more and more interesting neighbourhoods and outside restaurant popping up in the past 2 years. Security is still an issue, but people find ways around it. And that leaves shopping malls for what they are good for – shopping.

God’s Window and other such places

Posted in 365 Project, Africa, Merlin, Nature, Outdoors, Stuart, Travelling1 Comment

People of Mpumalanga don’t suffer from undue modesty – or how else do you explain a place called ‘God’s Window’. But I have to admit, the views are phenomenal. Along the winding mountain roads are little villages with crafts, great restaurant, whisky and – naturally – curios to all tastes.

One of the places we visited was Pilgrim’s Rest – a little village with number of houses restored to their ‘previous glory’. My favourite spot is the old BP Garage and it’s famous car that has been left to ‘Rust in Peace’.

Day 87 – Surprise Trip

Posted in 365 Project, Africa, Outdoors, Stuart, TravellingLeave a comment

This Friday was a public holiday in South Africa (Youth Day). Both Stuart and I have been so busy we only realised this on Tuesday – and decided it was too late to book a trip somewhere. In the Friday morning we promptly regretted the decision, and book a cottage in Mpumalanga anyway. Only 3h drive away from Joburg, it is a beautiful mountainous area. There is a lot of coal mining in the area, which explains the rail tracks in the middle of nowhere.

Day 78 – Light in a Jar

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Few years ago, South Africa suffered from a series of blackouts, as the energy supply was not sufficient. The situation sparked innovation in how to (safely!) light up homes without electricity. My favourite was this solar panel light set in a glass jar. Surprisingly effective and very cute, they are still in use, although we haven’t had a blackout in while. (Knock on wood!)