Kind of nervous. Going for some contract work for South African Airlines for a solid chunk of pay. I'm kind of surprised that they can afford this, but whatever. I guess when you neglect everything to this point you have to do something. My sponsor has us staying at the Radisson in Johannesburg but I'll try to get out on like a savannah tour or something lol.

Its gonna be an interesting 6 months. I'll try to update with pics of weird chit I see.

Never relax

Your funeral

I'm confident we can navigate the area without much risk.

Learn Dutch real quick and pretend you're from Rotterdam. Blend in until the mothership comes back to get the prawns.

Just don't go out after dark. Imagine you are Wole Smoth in 'I am Legend'. Luckily the place you are staying looks fairly secure.

I remember some video with where a special ops dude from UK was escorting some people and literally was having a shoot out because they were trying to kidnap the people for ransom. Think this was in SOuth Africa too. Anyone remember that?


Edit:

They have a lion park you can drive through and might want to visit. No matter how hot it is, though...do not roll down the window. Srs.

What could possibly go wrong . Stay safe OP

Inb4 op dies of MalariAIDs

That’s pretty cool OP srs. In for pics.

I’d like to visit Africa one day, but I’d be afraid of getting randomly kidnapped or murdered in the street. In some ways other parts of Africa are more interesting and apparently safer such as Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, Rwanda, etc.

South Africa is the most developed though.

Johannesburg looks like an interesting city because in parts it seems to function somewhat like a major western city. You have your luxury apartments, designer stores, corporate HQs and so forth. I think Sandton is the good part. But then walk 4 blocks away and it’s literal slums. People chitting in the street, buildings collapsed yet occupied. The duality of SA society is fascinating.

I’ve watched a ton of videos like this:


Let us know how it goes.

lol I'll make sure to not drive around in a brinks van

I'll rep ya if you do....hehe. No srs, sty safe brah

My wife is from Johannseburg, the entire country is a chit hole. I hope you come back alive OP. When I was there to do the lobolo her family told me not to go anywhere alone or at night or else I'd for sure be robbed and likely killed.

Learn some zulu and sotho phrases incase you get kidnapped.

South Africa is doing great

Neighbor who lives behind me is South African and I know a couple more in town. The general consensus is they're never going back ever.

This is what my wife said when I first met her. Why go back when the entire country is dangerous and falling apart.

It looks like Newark, NJ lmaooo

I hear they can cure AIDs now so you should be good

Tell Blomkamp to make a sequel

Where exactly in Joburg are you staying, OP? Kempton Park? If so, I can't think of a more boring place! There are fun things to do all around and outside of Joburg tho!
Here I am thinking you married a nice english girl whose family GTFO'd, and then lost it at the bolded!

Why pay lebolo, btw? The fact she is getting a visa to america is worth 100 malnourished african cows.

She wanted me to do it so I did. I got them 4 goats, a butchered cow and a freezer lol. I'm not poor so giving her family 10k rand worth of stuff wasn't too big of a deal. Her family is really awesome too, we fly one of her brothers to our farm in Utah every year to help us with stuff.

She was already living in the USA for school when we met so that part didn't matter.

Wear very short green shorts and carry an FAL to mogg.

Rip

I just spent 3 months in South Africa, mostly in Johanessburg near Sandton. I am South African, but left in 2001, now in Canada. Overall it was great.

If I had to give some heads up, it would be about load shedding, controlled blackouts due to the grid being over capacity. There is an app you can use to get notifications and keep track of them. It is called EskomSePush, Eskom being the main power supplier in SA. Most hotels and businesses will have generators, and these days solar. So you will probably only notice load shedding while driving, as the lights will be out in some areas, and robots (traffic lights) are treated as a four way stop, though often there will be enterprising individuals acting as traffic helpers for donations.

On the topic of donations, there will be car guards in most parking lots. Usually employed by the business, they will guard cars, help you load groceries, back out etc. They are easily identified by a hi-vis vest usually. You don't have to give them money, but I personally did, as you can give them anything from R2 upwards, I usually settled on R5-R10, which is less than a dollar. Or if I ran out of smaller bills, Id buy them a Coke or something. The same goes for Gas stations. There will be an attendant, you cannot pump your own gas. They will often check oil, or wash the windscreen, again R5-R10 or whatever is fine. South Africans may disagree on the amount, but that's what I usually did.

Tipping is, I believe 10% + there, but it is optional. Uber and Uber Eats are very cheap, I'd stay away from the other services even if they are cheaper.

You'll want to generally drive everywhere. At lights, try not to play on your phone, as that could encourage opportunistic criminals to smash and grab. You don't need to roll up your windows, but I often did so to avoid the street sellers, who walk between cars selling stuff. There will also often be beggars at lights, or people collecting glass bottles for recycling. At night, many people will treat red lights as a stop sign, due to potential high jackings. Familiarize yourself with the location of the inner city and townships, and avoid those generally if possible.

Overall I felt reasonably safe in Johanessburg, besides the adjustment period of the first few weeks. I loved being back there in general and will be spending next winter there too, take that as you will. Seems there are South Africans in this thread too, but if you have questions, shoot me a dm.

And it was a a beautiful high economy functioning country till you know who got involved

Sounds safer than Baltimore actually. Srs.

OP is gonna lose his chit when his check is in Rand instead of dollars

Also prepare to experience biltong and boerewors, both vastly superior to their disgusting jerky counterparts. I think every person I have given biltong to, has preferred it to jerky. I admit I haven't had much jerky after my first major disappointment.

Just heard about the blackouts. I'm not south african but lived there for quite a while like 15 yrs ago. Seems like it is just getting worse and worse, which is a shame because it is a beautiful country.

The best parts of south africa are getting the fuk out of the cities. Game reserves are amazing, and so is the countryside. Also, OP, be sure to go to Carnivore if they still have those: basically brazillian meat buffets but they serve chit like giraffe and rhino and springbok.Fukken lol!TBH, it took me a solid year to get into biltong. The first time I had it I just thought it tasted like blood.

I can't say I prefer it to jerky, but after I got into it I def enjoyed it, and would put it on the same level as jerky.

I'd also warn OP to not buy gallons of milk, unless you prepared to drink on some day. My only time experiencing rotten milk was in SA and I about threw up, and the milk had only been in the fridge for like 3 days lol.