South Africa..

[PraiseBacon]

Gotta ask – anyone been to [FONT=&quot]Johannesburg[/FONT] lately?, and how bad can it be?!

I’m having do to a short notice trip there next week (I was just born lucky) – and have just spent the last hour and a half with our corporate security team going through various arrangements.

I was expecting the usual don’t leave valuables on display – don’t stray into bad parts of town , keep a small amount of cash in a spare wallet to be able to hand over if robbed, etc (usual stuff). But some highlights of the brief included:

• · Your corporate cell phone must be on, and GPS enabled the entire time you are in country – we will be tracking your location.
• · You will be called 3 times a day, the response codes for all is normal, I am speaking under duress, I am in danger are: (X, Y, Z) – if you do not answer first time, you will be called again within an hour (but call back as soon as you see our missed call) – failure to answer twice and the emergency procedures kick in..
• · One of your days is in a ‘bad’ part of town - Your assigned bodyguard will meet you in your hotel lobby, he will be armed. The driver will take you to the office and pick you up, the car is bullet proofed, do not get in any other car without a call from us, do not walk off from your bodyguard.
• · If you are attacked and your bodyguard is killed or badly injured, keep calm! Run and hide, call us straight away and we will send a team to collect you based on your GPS location.

The little boy in me was thinking – Yay, armored vehicles, code words, armed bodyguard – very rock and roll lifestyle.


Then the balding, overweight, middle aged father, that is my reality, kicked in – and started to ask the question “WTF are you doing , going to a place where you need armored cars , armed bodyguards , and a security team monitoring you remotely!"


In my usual rational way though, looking for opinions from goaters on – is it really that bad in J’berg?, Or is a lot of common sense enough to get by ? (albeit one day is not in a good part of town!)

 

[FOMz]

Best bet - stay well away from where ever Oscar Pistorius is, just in case he gets 'surprised again' DT_Xtremez_30:

 

[Belle and Sebastian]

I spent a few days in Jo'burg a few years ago before a tour around the safari parks and it was fine - use your common sense and don't be flash with the cash and phone. It's very sprawled out so you'll be in a taxi or with your own security which makes it safe from point to point. If you have time then the apartheid museum and a guided cycle tour around Soweto are very good.

 

[Old Wobbly]

My daughter is in the corporate aviation business. (A top of the tree, trolly dolly). She frequently flies in and out of Jo'burg and regularly overnights. The crew are picked up by a pre, company booked bullet proof people carrier. The driver is expected to know a coded response to a variety of security questions which the crew can randomly select from. The hotel grounds where they stay have a barbed wire perimeter and armed guards. There have been occasions when the crew have been encouraged to board a "replacement" carrier. My daughter says its a beautiful country, but keep your wits about you. If 6th sense makes you think things aren't right, then move on sharpish. Much happens out there that doesn't make our news programmes.

Good Luck

 

[Gonterseed]

Near enough the same brief I had for a business trip about 18 months ago. Being a techie type, I'd have to point out that GPS isn't all that brilliant inside a structure, tunnel or most places without an unrestricted upwards and sideways view of the sky, like in a down-town street with tall buildings and regular sized streets.

 

[PraiseBacon]

My daughter is in the corporate aviation business. (A top of the tree, trolly dolly). She frequently flies in and out of Jo'burg and regularly overnights. The crew are picked up by a pre, company booked bullet proof people carrier. The driver is expected to know a coded response to a variety of security questions which the crew can randomly select from. The hotel grounds where they stay have a barbed wire perimeter and armed guards. There have been occasions when the crew have been encouraged to board a "replacement" carrier. My daughter says its a beautiful country, but keep your wits about you. If 6th sense makes you think things aren't right, then move on sharpish. Much happens out there that doesn't make our news programmes.

Good Luck

Actually my trip sounds about the same - had to be met by named person in morning , use a code-word to identify each other, - 2 of the 3 days I had the same armed bodyguard, and had to take check in calls 3 times a day.

In daylight, Santon (where hotel was) seems about as dangerous as , say, Manchester! but at night apparently it's different, and you don't have to wander far to be in a bad area. Office was in a dodgy part of town!..

In a touch of irony - I had to go to New York the following week - where a bomb did go off! ( Chelsea, on Manhattan Island) - and had the corporate security team ring check i was OK, find where I was etc