My colleagues and I had a wonderful stay at the Amanzi Guest House. We were working in Johannesburg for two weeks and I’m so pleased we chose the Amanzi over a sterile hotel because it was like a home from home. From the start we were welcomed by the extremely friendly staff and then I was so pleased with my room. It was beautifully laid out, clean and very big. The view across the city from my front door was spectacular, so many trees! I was actually surprised at how tree’d Joburg actually is.
The breakfasts were delicious - whether homemade muesli, or a cooked breakfast and Colleen, Delli and Tabang we’re constantly on hand to make sure we had everything we wanted. We were well looked after.
As it’s winter the nights got cold, but there were enough heaters and blankets in the room to be cosy and the electric blanket was a real treat. Another treat was getting my washing done every few days, I wasn’t expecting that and everything was perfectly pressed and folded.
Before our stay Pam was super helpful at advising places to go and even providing a yoga matt, which was an absolute lifesaver because work was so intense and I didn’t get a lot of time to exercise. So being able to do yoga in my room everyday made things a lot better.
Saying that Pam did tell us about a Parkrun at the local park, which we did. It was amazing! Tough because of the hill, but really beautiful views and there were just over 1000 other runners there! All different abilities and such a great atmosphere. Am so glad I did it, it was really memorable. The venue for it is a very scenic and expansive park, which is about a 15min walk from the Amanzi.
There are lots of great restaurants within a 10 mins cab ride from the Amanzi. Prices are more than reasonable, you can get the best steak on the menu for £12! And it outshines anything I’ve ever tried in the UK or US.
We went to the Rosebank Sunday market which is full of artisan stalls, managed to buy lots of clothes! And the 'Neighbourhood' market in Maboneng is super cool and trendy. It’s like like Brick Lane market in London’s Shoreditch, but ten times trendier and better. A great space to people-watch the cool kids of Joburg!
All in all what was a very intense, but incredible and fun two weeks of work was made even better by staying at the Amanzi and the people who work there.