Seven Days in Africa

I am currently working on a documentary project that involves travelling to many countries around Africa. World Nomads Insurance is one of the sponsors of this project. I find it interesting that of all the questions I get about my travels in Africa, the most common one is: "Is it dangerous?" Interesting because I have generally never felt so safe as in Africa. African cities usually have very low crime statistics - my Ethiopian friends were genuinely shocked when I told them that my house in Sydney once got broken into. "That never happens here..." they said. So Johannesburg has been my first experience of an African city where crime is on everyone's mind. No one carries a bag walking in the street... in fact no one really walks, they run. Everyone has 10 walls around their house, with razor wire, electric wire and private security. Is the paranoia justified? In a sense, yes. In my first week here I was almost mugged and almost carjacked. Almost. The first time I got away, the second time I talked my way out of it. Maybe this is why all the tourists go to Cape Town. That and the beach. Still, while Johannesburg is not yet cohesive enough to be called "the New York of Africa" as it so much would like to be, it is big, interesting and diverse enough to maybe be labelled "the LA of Africa." You can't be bored in Jo'burg. There are millions of African migrants here from all over the continent, trying to make it in the "streets paved with gold." Although it has a traumautuc history of Apartheid and racial conflict, Joburg more than any other city, is the laboratory for the New South Africa, where Black and White people are still learning to relate to each other in a new and workable way. While "interesting" is still more the word I'd use rather than "Wonderful", I decided not to be negative and bought a "I Heart Jo'burg" sticker for my camera box. Get the power of suggestion working. In the meantime, I am still learning how to get beyond the paranoia and learn what Jo'burg has to offer.