Talk:Johannesburg

Hi I was shocked to see the prices of accommodation......it has sky rocketed in the whole of SA since my last visit. This time around I am looking to house sit in and around Randburg for the last two weeks in January. I love SA having lived there for 6 years but now living in Canada I find that the Rand to dollar ratio, especially now that I am in early retirement, too expensive to afford the hotel and B & B rates being charged. Anyone know of a reasonable priced place in the Randburg area welcome to contact me. [email protected]

It it's your thing you might want to look at couchsurfing as well http://www.couchsurfing.com Bain 02:09, 5 January 2011 (EST)

"Oprah herself has said..." Apparently no irony here. Dear God, have we sunk so far?

Quite right! Property prices in general have been rising at a rapid clip - I believe 300% over the last years. The B&B prices will be best....try find a reasonably priced one through the AA travel website http://www.aatravel.co.za

"The contrast between rich and poor has led to one of the highest crime rates in the world." This is BS - not NPOV at all. Let's face it. If the rich all left and everyone were evenly poor, the crime rate wouldn't go down at all.

Districts

discussion of Nov 12 moved from User talk:NJR ZA WindHorse 11:16, 12 November 2006 (EST)

Hi Nick, I started a district section on the Jo'burg page, and have listed Soweto under Region six. However, I'm not sure that these politically designated districts are the best way to divide up the city in terms of providing info for visitors. So, please feel free to change as you feel appropriate. Thanks. WindHorse 10:51, 12 November 2006 (EST)

I also don't think the administrative regions are the best way to divide the city from a traveler's point of view. I think Soweto deserves a page of it's own as it is very big and cultural tourism is growing in that area. It might be better to break it up into six: Central, Northern and Southern Johannesburg, West Rand, East Rand and Soweto. Let's leave it as you have broken it up for now, but also leave the option open to change it later. Maybe add an entry on the discussion page for people to comment of how they would like to see it broken up - Nick Roux 11:02, 12 November 2006 (EST)

Stay safe

After reading the "stay safe" section, why would anyone want to visit Johannesburg? Unless one wants to live in total fear and mistrust when they visit. It makes it sound like eventualy you will be "jacked up" so dont be a hero and carry on.

It is considered one of the more dangerous cities in the world, no? Do you think we shouldn't warn of those things just to make it sound more appealing to tourists? Nobodies saying that those things will happen to you if you go there, but they are things to take into consideration. Most guidebooks have similar warnings. If you're really familiar with the city and disagree, you're as free as anyone to edit the article and make it better reflect reality. I spent a week there and was fine. But I can't say that it felt like an overly safe city either. – cacahuate ^talk 01:42, 5 April 2007 (EDT)

I live in the area and the entry seems to be accurate enough. Johannesburg is for the most part a first world city with excellent infrastructure (except public transport infrastructure, there we fall very short), but violent crime is a very serious problem. In general, the DO NOT TRY TO BE A HERO! bit is something that I don't agree with it for two reasons. Firstly because many people have simply handed over whatever was demanded of them just to end up dead anyway, secondly because I believe that it further increases crime as it decreases the risk to the criminal and makes committing the crimes a lot easier. (The same reason why the USA has a firm policy not to negotiate with kidnappers). This is however a travel wiki and not a political forum. Not being a hero probably is good advice for travelers. --NJR_ZA 09:16, 5 April 2007 (EDT)

Can someone explain what is a "red robot"? [QUOTE]At night do not stop at red robots.[/QUOTE]

Do you mean at red traffic lights? Pardon my ignorance.

I quite agree with the stay safe entery about DO NOT TRY TO BE A HERO. Not handing your stuff over makes it alot more likely that you get hurt. Also maybe the Red Robot should be changed. Most people don't call Traffic Lights Robots. I only figured that out on a recent visit to Joburg. 70.56.91.182 23:18, 16 December 2007 (EST)

Lion drops in for take-aways

Good reason why one should keep windows closed when visiting the Lion Park. News24-Lion drops in for take-aways

Restructure

I am busy restructuring Gauteng to give it a formal hierarchy, a resturcure of Johannesburg will happen at the same time. Some of the content currently in the Johannesburg article will be moved out of Johannesburg and into the correct Gauteng region where it belongs. --NJR_ZA 15:38, 8 October 2007 (EDT)

Santarama Miniland

The following entry has been removed from the guide and should probably be kept out.

• Santarama Miniland, 183 Rosettenville Rd, Pioneer Park, ☎ +27 (0)11 435-0543 (fax: (+27 (0)11 435-9905). Open 9AM to 5PM daily. Johannesburg in miniature.  edit

Reason for removal

Though many guide books and web sites still list Santarama, it really is not much of an attraction anymore. The miniature models are in a serious state of disrepair, none of the animatronics are functioning, there is no water flowing over the Howick falls and the dam is dry and full of trash. A real shame as it used to be a lovely place to visit.

--Nick 13:52, 9 August 2008 (EDT)

MetroRail safety?

The "Get in" section describes "most" MetroRail trains as "quite safe", but Stay safe goes on to say that "Public transport use is discouraged as frequent attacks occur on the crowded services." Which is the case? If some lines are safe, and others aren't, then please say which is which! Jpatokal 03:42, 22 September 2008 (EDT)

Districtify

Maybe an option divide Joburg in Central, North, South, East and West, similar to this wikipedia picture [1]. Soweto would go into SouthWest and Sandton would fit in the North(ern suburbs). Or even split in only 3 sections: Central, North and South, because there's pretty much no info about the southeast.

I agree with this - a good split would be Central, Northern suburbs, Soweto - the current split is too disaggregated (inc Randburg and Roodepoort). How do we change 'Sandton' in to 'Northern suburbs'?