If there was one concern, it would be the type of development we see. Shopping malls surrounded by parking spots. Four-lane separated highways connecting residential developments from car-oriented retail and business. Traffic jams. Here they are able to start basically from scratch with a blank slate, but instead of building a modern, functional City, they are repeating the mistakes made in North America 40 or 50 years ago. The developers and land speculators are controlling the development, and urban planning is limited to trying to keep up building the infrastructure links to support inefficient planning, with limited resources.
Regardless, it is a friendly, clean, and safe City, if a little chaotic in spots. We visited the understated but elegant Parliament Buildings, and the adjacent pedestrian mall. We also found some crafts worth bringing home, and drank excellent coffee (finally!).
We spent some quality time and had a lot of "in Canada" vs. "in Botswana" conversations with the African Wing of the Dixon-Warren Clan, including Tig's Uncle Colin Dixon-Warren.
Then we thanked our hosts and headed back to Jo'burg.
By the way, for those curious about the cricket, yesterday was the fifth and final day of the third test between South Africa and India. Although South Africa scored about 100 more runs, the test ended in a draw, after India stopped trying to score. The sport makes no sense. For all of you that call curling boring...I give you test cricket. Five days, five lunch breaks, five tea breaks, about 800 "runs", no winner.
We braved the highways of South Africa for the last time, and returned to the guesthouse in Melville where we started it all a month ago. We are both starting to think about home. Maybe a bit more red wine first...
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