A great experience and a great way to get around the city without having to walk everywhere, not quite knowing where you are going. Joberg has a certain reputation but I found it quite laid back and chilled. True there is a certain edginess to be found, but no more so than most American cities. Over certainly felt more uncomftabke in parts of Pittsburgh than I did in Joburg.

It is a lot better now than the low point in the 1990's, when the city centrer was all but abandoned by most business. You can see the legacy where buildings are inaccessible, the doors having been bricked up, to top their occupation by gangs.

One building which always remained open is the Carton Tower, which at 50 stories towers over the CBD. When it opend in 1974 it was the tallest building in Africa, a title that remarkably, it still holds today. Great views from the top. At the bottom is Ghandi square, named after the man who spent 21 years in the country, fighting for the rights of Indian workers, before returning to his homeland. 

One extra on the tour was a trip to Soweto. The South Western township where the white overlords forced their black workers to live, to keep the city centre whiite. Once the site of bloody battles, today it's a bustling vibrant place, especially around Varinazi Street. The only street in the world where two Nobel laureates had their homes. Nelson Mandella and Desmond Tutu both lived there at different times.

The museum dedicated to Hector Pieterson, the 13 year old boy who was killed during riots of 1976, and whose picture became a symbol of the oppression of the state, tells the story of the events of that time in a moving and poignant way.