Johannesburg

---

We arrived in Johannesburg on 30th December and stayed at in Maponeng in the CBD in the apartments belonging to Curiocity Backpackers. The Backpackers is great, staff really friendly and it’s got a nice bar where it’s really easy to meet other travellers. The apartments are down the street and give you more space and more privacy than a dorm and they have a cool rooftop space where you can see the whole city. The apartments are in an old factory which is now a fully functioning art gallery and apartment building with each room designed in the style of a particular year or era in history.

Maboneng itself is a street or two in size and the focus of a regeneration project. There are lots of hipster bars, restaurants (get the ribs at Pata Pata), and smoothie hatches. The place is decorated with graffiti (mainly commissioned) and has been regenerated with a social conscience (apartments blocks are rented by a quota to ensure a balance of locals to foreigners and a new local primary school facilitates the street vendors by including built in kiosks in the walls of the buildings for them to sell their wares).

It’s safe to walk around Maboneng and i’d recommend the walking tour (4 hours) run by Curiocity.

We spent our 4 or so days here by seeing in NYE at Afropunk festival on Contitution Hill, doing a city and Soweto tour (run by Mo Afrika tours - guide was nice), a city tour run by Curiocity and eating and drinking in various places Maboneng has to offer.

Overall Johannesburg doesn’t feel particularly safe. The streets in the CBD (with the exception of Maboneng) are full of litter and we were constantly warned and advised not to walk around (outside the parameters of Maboneng) alone - advice which we took as we didn’t feel particularly safe. That said, compared to other South African cities we have visited, there seems to be more social integration and Maboneng in particular is a great example of a melting pot of travellers and local hipsters alike enjoying what the city has to offer.

---