Museum Africa in Johannesburg

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comments 5

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  Bronwyn Burdis

  :: 08 May 2018 20:10:19

  This place has a lot of potential but nobody seems to be working on unlocking it. Entrance is free. We visited over the April holidays which one would imagine would be a time for tourist destinations to shine... The entrance was littered with garbage which didn't create a great first impression. Coupled with the smell of urine, we were apprehensive at what we would find therein. It is clean inside. Except for geology, the exhibits look as though they're incomplete. The flow is disjointed / non existent between spaces in the museum. Totally unrelated exhibits exist side by side. This together with very few explanatory labels, cards or charts on the display cases makes it confusing. Most of the artwork is unreferenced. There is no story being told. It's just a big storage area. In the case of the Photography Museum, it feels like the exhibits have been offloaded in no particular order from the truck that brought them there and never reassembled in any sequential or logical order (again, no cards) and there's a lot of broken stuff lying around. The museum security guards are creepy - they follow you around just out of sight and lurk behind you as if waiting to pounce. I thought it was just us but I watched all of them doing the same to the other visitors too. On the plus side: the mail wagon was cool, as well as the interactive displays on bending light.

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  Karabo Maimane

  :: 06 May 2018 12:14:25

  Poor poor exhibition. It's practically walking through an empty Hall. WTH😐Where's all the history? They give you a few pictures and biographies of some SA icons, but really there's nothing to see. Nothing. It's deteriorated since 2010. Back then it had great stuff to see and read, but now it's like it was looted or purposefully emptied😒. The guards are nice though, but the area in Newtown is eerily not safe. Try to look like you're a regular in that area to fit in and keep your eyes sharp because we got followed by a few dodgy people who had creepy vibes, but we acted confident and carried on only our cellphones. No handbags or wallets. Just be a pedestrian. The parking at Newtown Junction is short walk from the Museum for R10, so park there and walk. It's a little safer that way. Other than that prepare to be disappointed.

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  Tlholohelo Makatu

  :: 04 May 2018 13:12:28

  I managed to spend 2 hours here but I felt quite underwhelmed and that disappointed me. The artefacts and samples in the museum were intriguing but it's quite disorganised and it just seems like staff don't know what to do when visitors come. I was directed to toilets that did not work (probably not intended for visitors) and I was told I couldn't sit on a particular bench because apparently it was for staff only. A lot of the areas in the left side of the museum are empty and for some wings, you don't know where to start. The geology museum was a little interesting but the maze layout and dark painted walls in that area is worrying to navigate alone. This is a very important place as it holds a lot for people to learn about our natural and cultural heritage however the place needs to be developed. We don't know how long these display cases and areas have been empty for and I'd hate to return 2 years from now and find it the same.

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  yanga lusiti

  :: 23 March 2018 16:19:21

  For a great family experience and an opportunity to learn more about South Africa and where we come from, this is a place to visit. and also for an opportunity to see all the minerals that the country have and make sure you don't forget to visit the part that has the history of cameras and have the actual feel and the look of cameras they used in 1700, go there and witness optical illusion live.

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  OBie Mavuso

  :: 22 February 2018 10:59:58

  Yesterday I was in great spirits with my lady friend, I decided to take her to your museum and enjoy the facilities, when we got to the museum I met a friendly old man by the door who asked us to register for us to enter, we followed protocol and entered. When we got to a floor with an barber stool, we noticed a lady security guard standing in that floor. I greeted her and myself and my lady friend continued walking around and viewing the historical pieces. At some point myself and my lady friend held hands and my lady friend gave me a kiss on the cheek. This security guard shouted at us and said "YOU CANNOT DO THAT HERE." That is when me and my friend approached her and asked her what the issue was. She clearly had an issue about two women holding hands and enjoying a day out at Museum Africa, she proceeded to threaten us and call a male security guard to kick us out. I am appalled that in 2018, people still feel the need to police others because of their sexuality. Aren't museums supposed to be free spaces that allow people to be themselves? Are your staff not meant to be open minded? Please remedy this, because I would love to visit again but if you have this kind of staff, this will create a bad name for your museum.