Falling in love with the underdog – Johannesburg.

Today’s guest post is by Imogen Walker.

I have made many rash decisions in my time. Nervously disembarking from a plane with a racing heart and a prickly feeling that perhaps this wasn’t a great idea is a sentiment with which I have become extremely accustomed.

Yet here it was, again.

My grand plan to discover the city of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest and most infamous urban dwelling, had become a reality. Generally used as a transit point for connecting flights to better-known neighbors Cape Town, Durban and the Kruger National Park, stepping outside the JNB seemed like a miniature adventure in itself. With the city’s reputation for greed, violence and chronic street crime the most notable headline hit, I’m not going to lie; I was terrified.

Still bearing scars from its notoriously dark past, this fascinating South African metropolis has in fact burst on to the world stage in an explosion of three-dimensional cosmopolitan vibrancy. Sadly, Jo’burg’s murky past has proven to be regrettably durable and, much like Kenya’s Nairobi, horror stories from vamped up press reports have succeeded in deterring visitors altogether from the city, and many opt for the safer climes and natural beauty of the ‘Mother City’, Cape Town. Yet, as the Jo’burg has struggled to rid its crime-riddled streets and emerged from the choking grip of apartheid, it has proven itself to far more than its flawed media label.

One of my main aims was to discover a little more about Jo’burg’s colourful history; Constitutional Court and the Old Fort Prison Complex on Constitution Hill provide a fascinating glimpse into Jo’burg’s past. However, I warn you, this is not for the faint-hearted. Walking numbly through the deathly quiet of Number Four prison building, where hundreds of black men were imprisoned and tortured for breaking apartheid segregation laws, the palpable feeling of incomprehensible horror would stun even the most brazen visitor into silence. Similarly, the National Museum of Military History served to deliver the same spine-chilling reminders of the turbulence of the South Africa’s 20th-century.

In spite of its size and status, Jo’burg has never been the home to political powers in the country, meaning that the last two decades have seen an
enormous increase in wealth in the city. Hello, a hell of a lot of safe yet mind numbingly bland shopping centres. Although the sterility of the shiny malls can become tedious, I managed to stumble across the perfect antidote in the form of Jo’burg’s abundance of craft markets, including the thronging Rosebank Sunday market in the city centre – perfect for some seriously animated retail therapy.

With restaurants, street food, and a thriving suburban café culture, I can safely testify that you won’t go hungry in Jo’burg. As a self-confessed omnivore, I was a happy monkey sampling all sorts of traditional munch: bobotie (a Cape Malay dish consisting of a fried egg atop mince meat), samoosas, samp (beans and corn), and the South African specialty pap (maize porridge); all of which was obviously washed down with a chilled glass of South African Sauvignon Blanc. Try as I might to avoid the beaten tourist track, I had to indulge in a trip to ‘Carnivore’ in Muldersdrift. One of the many celebrated places to eat in Johannesburg, it really is a meat fanatics wet dream; I mean, where else can you eat kudu with pap and chakalaka sauce?

Obviously, there are countless tourist fancies that you’d be mad to miss; Johannesburg Zoo and lake, the Montecasino bird gardens, and the Lion Park Gauteng – the latter being a surreal opportunity to get right up close to the lions themselves, a far cry from your average petting zoo.

However, ever since being introduced to kwaito (South African jive that has grown into an increasingly popular form of hip-hop) and having always been a fan of the musical genius and moral missions of Hugh Masekela, the highlight of my time spent in Jo’burg was by far my brief venture into Soweto. Short for South West Townships, Soweto is a 4-million inhabitant urban mish-mash of matchbox houses and stark contrasts. Although containing few ‘sights’ as such, aside from the Hector Peterson Memorial and Museum, and the Nelson Mandela Museum – both sombre acknowledgments to the naked reality of apartheid – the real beauty lies in Soweto’s historical associations. My head swimming with footage of the ’76 uprising, just standing amongst the people of this legendary locale was an unforgettably humbling experience.

My verdict? Despite the inevitable abundance of high walls, electric fencing, razor wire and listless security guards, the more time spent in the city allows you to appreciate the incredible juxtaposition of natural beauty with urban reality. As I wander around through the extraordinarily calm suburbs of Parktown and Hillbrow, a brightly coloured Crested Barbet hops nonchalantly across shards of broken glass atop a six-foot wall. Sure, Jo’burg has had problems, serious problems, but it is the city’s resilience and unique tough yet wholly unpretentious character that means I, for one, will certainly be returning.

Author Bio: Imogen Walker
A meat-eating hippy with a hybrid accent, Imogen Walker was born in England, grew up in Scotland and now lives in France. Having completed a music degree in Manchester, Imogen teaches English on the other side of the channel while continuing to indulge in casual music-making, grammatically dubious writing and competitive cheese-eating. As a self-confessed escapist, Imogen has firmly resolved to delay entering the real world for as long as possible.

*All photos in this post provided by the author.

*Please remember all photos on this website, unless otherwise noted, are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me first because I do love to share and I would be flattered. Thanks!

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