Johannesburg

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Exploring Jozi with the City Sightseeing open top bus

My visits to Johannesburg have always been ones of in and out, with very little sightseeing connected with it.  Wham, bang, thank you ma'am.  This means that I always look at the Joburg travel bloggers' blogs with longing wanting to see the places they write about.  A two day trip to Johannesburg meant that I had some time on my hands to explore and a couple of calls later I had a reference number in my hand to join City Sightseeing Joburg for…

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19/11/2014
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The new kid on the Jozi skyline

The Nizamiye Turish Masjid - or Midrand Mosque -  has made a big impact on the Johannesburg, and in particular Midrand, skyline.  The mosque with its 55 meter high minarets is the brainchild of retired Turkish property developer Ali Katircioglu (known as “Uncle Ali”) and was modelled on the Selimiye Camisi mosque in Edirne, Turkey.

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02/07/2013
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Mushroom Farm Park – greening urban areas

Johannesburg boasts that it's the world's largest man-made urban forest and that's difficult to imagine until one actually visits the city and see how many open spaces, parks and nature reserves there are.  One of these parks is Mushroom Farm Park in Sandton.  I've passed here a couple of times before but visited for the first time on my last visit to the City of Gold. Sandton started out in the 1930's as farms and estates and only transform from a farming community to a…

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01/07/2013
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The Midrand Mosque

Close to the N1 highway in Midrand between Johannesburg and Pretoria, with views of Sandton and Johannesburg in the distance, stands the magnificent Nizamiye Turish Masjid.  And magnificent it truly is.  The mosque is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere and was built as an Ottoman structure and modelled on the Selimiye Camisi mosque in Edirne, Turkey (completed in 1574 and today a Unesco World Heritage Site).  The project was the brainchild of Ali Katircioglu (known as “Uncle Ali”), a 74-year old,…

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19/04/2013
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Jozi skyline

South Africa has two very recognisable skylines.  The one is Cape Town with Table Mountain and the other is the Johannesburg skyline, easily identified with the Hillbrow Tower in the middle.  The picture was taken from Midrand, north of the city.

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20/03/2013
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The Madiba statue in Nelson Mandela Square

Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton City must be one of the most popular attractions in Johannesburg.  Everybody seems to stop at Sandton City to go shopping and then make sure that they swing by Madiba's statue for a picture.  On a busy day its actually quite difficult to get a pic of the statue without anybody next to it.  I've posted about Nelson Mandela Square before (2008, 2009 and 2010), but on my last visit to Johannesburg I couldn't help but to…

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06/01/2013
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Walter Sesulu Botanical Garden

There is always something new to see even if one has been to a place many times.  This is even true of one's own home town, but this isn't a story on my home town.  There is so much I haven't seen around Johannesburg and Gauteng, but I don't always have a lot of free time when I am up there to go exploring.  My last trip to Jozi left me an open morning and I decided to go and visit…

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20/11/2012
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Witpoortjiewaterval

Die Witpoortjiewaterval is die fokuspunt van die Walter Sisulu- Botaniese Tuin in Johannesburg.  Die tuin is 'n baie gewilde piekniekplek en besoekers hou gewoonlik hulle oë baie wyd oop om te sien of hulle dalk die broeipaar Verreaux arende wat langs die waterval nesmaak kan gewaar.

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29/10/2012
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Nelson Mandela Square

Nelson Mandela Square is geleë in die hartjie van Sandton, Johannesburg en die fokuspunt van Nelson Mandela Square is 'n ses meter hoë brons standbeeld van die bekende staatsman homself.  Die standbeeld is in 2004 onthul om nie net die tiende verjaardag van Sandton City winkelsentrum te vier nie, maar ook 10 jaar van demokrasie.Die standbeeld self staan nie net ses meter hoog nie, maar weeg ook 2,5 ton.  Ek wonder of Kobus Hatting en Jacob Maponyane, die kunstenaars verantwoordelik…

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29/06/2012